
Oass _ 



mmmmmmmftm 



wmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 



I 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/scenessl<etchesinOOsear 



SCENES AND SKETCHES 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE: 



EMBRACING DESCRIPTIONS OF 



FRANCE, PORTUGAL, SPAIN, ITALY, SICILY, 

SWITZERLAND, BELGIUM, AND HOLLAND, 



TOGETHER WITH 



INTERESTING NOTICES OF THEIR PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS. 



CAREFULLT PREPARED FROM THE BEST AND LATEST SOURCES, 

BY ROBERT SEARS. 



ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS. 



NEW YORK: 



PUBLISHED BY ROBERT SEARS, 128 NASSAU STREET. 
J. S. REDFIELD, CLINTON HALL. 

1847. 



..... ^> 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, 

By ROBERT SEARS, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Southern 

District of New York, 



^ 



afl 



s^si 



STEREOTYPED BY REDFIELD & SAVAGE, 
13 Chambers Street, N. Y. 



PREFACE. 



So great has been the influence of cheap novels upon the morals and welfare of 
our community, and so extensively have they been circulated, that within the last 
year, men of sense, and men of family, those who have wives, and' those whose chil- 
dren are just coming forward on the stage of action, have risen up in their might, 
and boldly presented themselves against the further wholesale diflTusion of books, 
which having no useful end or aim, and conveying no teachings of wisdom, or les- 
sons of practical utility, serve but to pass away an idle hour ; and, in many cases, 
to destroy a disposition for works of a more valuable character. 

We have attempted, in an humble and unobtrusive way to assist in this noble work. 
We have endeavored to call the attention of the American people to the diffusion of 
truly valuable knowledge — knowledge which can be made available in every rank 
and station of life. To this end have our efforts been directed. Nor is this all ; still 
further to assist in this glorious undertaking, our books have been made attractive by 
pictorial embellishments, designed by the first artists, and from authentic pictures. 
These embellishments also serve another purpose, to humanize the mind, to render 
it alive to the charms of nature, and to inspire among the people a taste for the fine 
arts. 

In this enterprise our efforts have been nobly sustained by the people, and all in- 
terested in diffusing principles of sound education. Our Pictorial Works have 
found their way into every village. They have been offered as premiums for excel- 
lence in mental attainments ; and have been introduced into the libraries of sabbath 
and district schools. Men of genius and talent, those holding the highest official 
stations in the country — men who direct the masses — who have placed their mark 
on the present age, and who will be ever remembered as among the gifted of the 
nineteenth century — have cheered us onward with their approbation. Sustained 
by the influence and patronage of those whose good opinion is ever to be appreci- 
ated, we shall go on laboring earnestly and zealously in the great cause, uninflu- 
enced by those whose envy may detract from the merits of our books. 

Only a few months since we issued the " Pictorial Description of Great Britain 
and Ireland.'''' The present, although a separate and distinct book, may be regarded 
as another of the same series. It treats of a part of the European continent, which 
is deeply interesting, and over which the classics of Tacitus, Horace, Cicero, and 
Virgil, have thrown a charm, which does not exist in the more northerly parts of 
Europe. We commend our new work to those who have smiled so kindly on our 
previous enterprises, assuring them that the present work is equal in value to its 
predecessors. 

R. S. 
New York, May 1, 1847. 



THE PARK OF BRUSSELS. 

SEE FRONTISPIECE. 

We have selected for our frontispiece a fine drawing of the beautiful park of 
the city of Brussels, with a view of the Representatives' Hall. The Park, as a whole, 
forms a very extensive and magnificent range of pleasure-grounds, adorned by rows 
of lofty trees, and containing several large and beauti ul lawns, ornamented with 
statues and fountains. Around this have been placed the most splendid edifices of 
the city, including the palaces, public offices, and finest private residences ; and one 
of the most beautiful of these, the Hall of the Representatives, has been selected as 
the central point of our engraving. 

It needs no new recapitulation of historical facts, to throw an interest around the 
city of Brussels. The plains of Brabant, with the dark forest of Soignies — supposed 
to be a remnant of that of Ardennes, immortal in Shakspere's " As you like it" — 
and the little villages of Quatre-Bras, St. Jean, La Belle Alliance, and Waterloo, 
which surround it on the south and southwest, within a few leagues, have been, 
since the memorable eighteenth of June, 1815, indissolubly associated with one of 
the greatest political and poetical crises of modern times. 

Brussels still rings with its " sound of revelry by night," and amid all changes 
holds its place as one of the gayest and most elegant cities of the old world. It now 
stands as the capital of a new kingdom, built up in the very heart of Europe, amid 
the jarring jealousies of the other powerful and time-beaten empires. The state of 
Belgium, for four centuries subjected to other powers, has achieved its independence, 
claimed its individual nationality, and founded a constitutional monarchy, under 
which religious liberty, the freedom of the press, liberty of instruction, personal lib- 
•erty, and the right of petition, are guarantied to the citizen. 

Without entering upon any of the speculations which this, her position, or the 
onward steps of the principle of freedom which have led to it, open, we are happy 
to have been able to furnish the present view of one of those beautiful spots in her 
principal city, which time and revolutions have spared to enrich the blessings which 
the progress of civilization has given to her people. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

FRANCE. — Paris — General Remarks — Notre Dame — St. Germain des Pres — St. Gene- 
vieve — St. Gervais — St. Sulpice — St. Etienne du Mont — Pantheon — Madeleine — Ceme- 
teries of Paris — Pere la Chaise — Tuilleries — Chamber of Deputies — Public Libraries — 
School of Medicine — Louvre — Galleries of Pictures — Teniers — Van Ostade — Jordaens — 
Gallery of Sculpture — Boy extracting a Thorn — Theatres — Academic Royale — Odeon — 
Italian Opera — Triumphal Monuments — Porte St. Denis — Arc de I'Etoile — La 
Morgue , 12 to 48. 

CHAPTER n. 

FRANCE. — Paris — Waterworks — Fountains — Place du Chatelet — Fountain of Ele- 
phant — Palaces — Palais Royal — Town Hall — Mint — Bourse — Markets — Butter, Egg, and 
Cheese Market — Poultry Market — Marche des Innocens — Fruit Market — Flower Mar- 
ket—Wine Market— Grain Market— Wood Yard 48 to 77. 

CHAPTER m. 

FRANCE.— Paris— Baths— Boulevards— Bridges— Pont Neuf— Pont Notre Dame— Obe- 
lisks — ^Luxor — Municipal Government 77 to 86. 

CHAPTER IV. 

FRANCE. — Normandy — Climate — People — Productions — Woodcutters — Forests — Rou- 
mare — Bretonne — Rouvray — Pont de I'Arche — Andelys — Costumes of Normandy — Pol- 
let — Dieppe — Abbey of la Trappe — Castle of Arques — Battle of King Henry and 
Leaguers 86 to 106. 

CHAPTER V. 

FRANCE.— Rotten— Its Cathedral— Abbey of St. Omer— Church of St. Maclou— Palace 
of Justice — Maid of Orleans — Rheims — Place Royale — Cathedral Church of St. Remi. — 
Amiens— Its Cathedral. — Chartres — Its Cathedral, — Laon — Its Cathedral. — Beau- 
vais — Its Cathedral.—^ Dieppe — Baths — Manufactures — Commerce — Fisheries. — Poic- 
TiERS — Battle of Poictiers. — Boulogne — Its Museum — Antiquities. — St. Omer. — 
Tours — Plesis les Tours. — La Rochelle. — Rouen. — La Havre 106 to 148. 

CHAPTER VI. 

PORTUGAL — Its History— Mines — Population.— Oporto. — Lisbon— Its Churches— Con- 
vents— The Prapa— Streets— Castle of St. George— The Earthquake of 1755. . . 149 to 172. 



6 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

CHAPTER VII. 

PORTUGAL. — Elvas — Its Streets — Hospital — Cathedral — Fortifications — Aqueduct. — 
Praga — Its Battle. — Cintka. — The Douro. — St. Uses. — Evora — Its Temple — Castel- 
lum— Monastery, 173 to 189. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

PORTUGAL— Forests— The Cork— The Olive— Bull-Chase— Smuggling 189 to 198. 

CHAPTER IX. 

SPAIN — Its People — Farmers — Muleteers — Manners — Productions. — Madrid — Its Popu- 
lation — Palace — Churches — Promenades — Theatres — Police. — Badajos — Bridge — Gate. 
— Barcelona — Its Gate— The Rambla — Belem Church — Fortifications — Churches — Ca- 
thedral — Bishop's Palace. — Corunna — Its Battle. — Villa Vellid — Its Castle. — Alcan- 
tara , 199 to 223. 

CHAPTER X. 

SPAIN. — Granada — The Alhamhra — Its Courts and Fountains — Baths. — Sakagossa — The 
Inquisition 224 to 240. 

CHAPTER XI. 

ITALY — Its Divisions — Boundaries — Literature. — Genoa — Its Arsenal — Cathedral — 
Churches — Palaces — Hotels — Hospitals — Harbor — People. — Pisa — Its Tower — Duomo — 
Baptistery — Churches — Palaces — Distinguished Men — Galileo. — Leghorn — Its Church- 
es — Monuments. — Florence — Palaces — Libraries — Churches — Cabinets — Works of Art 
— Pictures — Sculptures — Antiquities — Amusements — Horseraces — Pallone — Its Envi- 
rons — Careggi de' Medici — Protoline — Fiesole — Vallombrosa — Manners of the Floren- 
tines 240 to 275. 

CHAPTER XII. 

ITALY. — Rome — Colosseum — ^Pantheon — St. Peter's. — Aqueducts — Porticoes — Temples — 
Palaces — Trajan's Column — Forum — Monte Cavallo — Arch of Constantine — Cloaca Max- 
ima — Temple of Vesta — Palace of Caesars — Villa Spada — Circus Maximus— ^Baths of 
Titus — Laocoon — Chiesa di St. Martine in Monte — St. Pietro in Vinculi — The Capitol — 
Senatorial Palace — Museum — Hall of the Gladiator — Cupid and Psyche — Vatican — Its 
Frescoes — Stanse di Raffaello — Wall of Constantine — Gallery of Inscriptions — The 
Library — Hemycircle of the Belvidere — The Square Porch — The Portico of the Court — 
The Hall of Busts— The Cabinet— The Museum of Gregory XVI.— The Gallery— The 
Egyptian Museum — Architecture 276 to 335. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

ITALY. — Rome — Church of St. John — Lateran Church — St. Maria Maggiore — Mamertine 
Prison — Fountains — Of Paul V. — Of Prince of Palestine — Roman Carnival — II Giuoco 
alia Ruzzica — Morra — Roman Swing — Roman Puppets — Punch 336 to 357. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

ITALY. — Environs of Rome — Church of St. Cecilia in Trastevere — St. Prisca — St. Sabina — 
St. Alessio — Baths of Caracalla — Tomb of Scipios — Gate of St. Sebastiano — Catacombs — 
Circus of Caracalla — Tomb of Cecilia Metella — Basilic of San Paolo. — Tivoli — Tem- 
ple of Sibyl — Albano — Pontine Marshes — Vendemmia. — Antium. — Terracina. — Ca- 
pita 358 to 373. 



CONTENTS. 7 

CHAPTER XV. 

ITALY.— Naples— Its Position— Strada Toledo— Churches— Castel Nuo¥0— Castel St. El- 
mo — Abbey of St. Martino — Villa Reale — Royal Palace — Campo Santo — Theatres — Nea- 
politan Letter -Writer — The Canta-Storia — Rinaldo — The Mole — The Vehicles of Naples 
—The- Corricolo— The Flower-Pot- Calesso , 374 to 394. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

ITALY. — Environs of Naples — Tomb of Virgil — Grotto of Posilippo — Pozzuoli. — Hercu- 
LANEUM — Forum. — Pompeii — Its Destruction — Street of Tombs — Villa of Diomedes — 
Semicircular Seats — Herculaneum Gate — Post-house — Custom-house — Bake-house — Wine 
and Oil Shop— House of Sallust — of Pansa — Forum Civile — Temple of Hercules — of 
Isis — of Esculapius — Theatre — Curia — Sculptor's Shop — Amphitheatre — House of the 
Faun— City Walls— Mount Vesuvius... 395 to 423. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

ITALY. — Pjestum — Its Walls — Gates — Temple of Neptune — of Ceres — Theatre — Amphi- 
theatre. — Benevento — Arch of Trajan. — Bologna — Leaning Towers — Picture Galleries. 
— Venice— St. Mark's — Bridge of Sighs. — Milan— Cathedral — Palaces 423 to 435. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

SICILY — General Description. — Palermo — Streets — Gates — Cathedral — Churches — Mar- 
ma — St. Rosalia — Stromboli. — Monreale. — Syracuse. — Messina. — Catania — Mt.Etna. 
— Marmarenii — Salt Springs of Sicily. — Segesta — Its Temple. — Agrigentum — Its Tem- 
ple. — Selinunte — Its Ruins , 436 to 456. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

MALTA.— Valetta— St. John's Cathedral— Siege of Malta— Maltese Ladies— Soil-Pro- 
ductions 457 to 472. 

CHAPTER XX. 

TYROL — Its features — Inhabitants — Valley of the Non. — Innspruck — Tomb of Maximil- 
ian I. — Andrew Hofer — His Monument — Battle of the Tyrol — Valley of Meran — Valley 
of Suiza — Castel Val — Dwelliiigs of the Tyrolese — Agriculture of Tyrol. . . .473 to 495. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

SWITZERLAND— History— Independence declared— Description of the Cantons— Geo- 
graphical Features of the Country — Population of the Cantons.— Geneva— William Tell— 
Bridge at Friburgh — Hunting Chamois — Godfrey Mind 496 to 521 . 

CHAPTER XXII. 

BELGIUM— History.— Brussels— Hotel de Ville— Church of St. Gudule— M. Vander 
Maelen — Waterloo — Its Battle— Antwerp— Its Cathedral— Furnes 522 to 535. 

CHAPTER XXHI. 

HOLLAND.— Amsterdam— Its Commerce— Streets— Stadthouse— Exchange— Church of 
St. Nicholas— Leyden— Its University 535 to 544. 



EMBELLISHMENTS. 



FRANCE. 

PAGE. 

Principal Front of the Cathedral of 

Notre Dame ■ • 19 

Church of St. Gervais 21 

Church of St. Sulpice. , 22 

Church of St. Ettienne Du Mont 23 

The Pantheon ." 24 

Church of La Madeleine 27 

Pere la Chaise 29 

Chamber of Deputies 31 

The Knife-Grinder— by Teniers 35 

The Smoker— by Ostade 37 

" The King Drinks" — from Jordaens ... 39 

Boy extracting a Thorn 41 

Theatre de POdeon, Paris 43 

Arc de Triomphe de I'Etoile 45 

Fountain in the Place du Chatelet 49 

Design for the Fountain of the Elephant 51 

The Bourse 55 

Market for Butter, Eggs, and Cheese . . 57 

Marche a la Volaille 65 

Marche des Innocens . . , 67 

Marche aux Fruits 69 

Hall aux Vins 71 

Hall aux Bles et Farines 74 

Wood-Yard and Raft on the Seine, Fau- 
bourg St. Antoine 76 

Pont Notre Dame y:'." "^^ 

Hieroglyphics on the uppermost Division 

of the Obelisk of Luxor 81 

Obelisk of Luxor S3 

Farmer of Normandy 87 

Forest of Brotonne, Normandy 91 

Harvest in Normandy 93 

Norman Fruit-Woman 96 

Norman Peasant 97 

The Porter of a Convent of La Trappe, 

in Normandy 99 

A Monk of La Trappe, at his Devotions 100 
Castle of Arques, Normandy — Gateway 

Towers 103 

Castle of Arques — Ruins of the Keep. . 105 

West Front of the Cathedral of Rouen. 107 

North Side of the Church of St. Maclou 109 

Statue of the Maid of Orleans, at Rouen 111 

Jeanne d'Arc, before her Accusers 113 

West Front of the Cathedral at Rheims 115 

Virgin and Child, Cathedral of Amiens 118 



PAOK. 

West Front of the Cathedral of Amiens 119 

Porch of Chartres Cathedral 121 

West Front of Leon Cathedral 123 

South Front of the Cathedral of Beauvais 125 

Harbor of Dieppe 127 

Fleet of Oyster-Boats, Dieppe Harbor. . 129 

Poictiers 131 

Medal struck by Napoleon, to commem- 
orate the Invasion of England 135 

Medal of Catherine de Medicis — struck 
to commemorate the Massacre of St. 

Bartholomew 135 

Ancient Boulogne Flagon 136 

Old Drinking-Cup 136 

Ancient Sling 137 

Brain-Cap 137 

The Trebuchet 138 

Entrance to St. Omer, from Calais 141 

Present State of Plessis les Tours 143 

La Rochelle 145 

Havre 147 

PORTUGAL. 

Oporto 153 

Belem Castle 155 

Convent of St. Vicenti di Fora 157 

Praga do Commercio, Lisbon 159 

Beggar Boy — by Murillo 161 

Ruins of St. Paul's, Lisbon 167 

Interior of the Opera-House, Lisbon. . . 169 

Praca (Square), Elvas 173 

Market-Place, Elvas 175' 

Citizen of Braga 178 

Moorish Aqueduct, Elvas 179 

St. Joao da Foz 181 

Valley of Setubal 183 

Temple of Diana, at Evora 185 

Roman Aqueduct and Castellum, at Ev- 
ora 187 

Cork-Forest at Moira 191 

Gathering Olives 193 

Wild-Bull Hunting 195 

Contrabandistas 197 

SPAIN. 

Spanish Muleteers 201 

Madrid 205 



10 



EMBELLISHMENTS. 



PAGE. 

Royal Palace of Madrid 206 

Castle of Badajos 209 

Palace of Barcelona 211 

Church of Santa Maria del Mar 213 

Plan of the Battle of Corunna 216 

Village of Villa Vellid, in Old Castile. . 219 

Bridge and Town of Alcantara 222 

Hall of Justice, Alhambra 225 

Fountain of Lions, Alhambra 229 

Saragossa 233 

Costume of Prisoners of the Inquisition 238 

Procession of the Inquisition 240 

ITALY. 

Portraits of Italian Authors 243 

Rostrum of an ancient Galley 244 

Genoa 245 

Leaning Tower of Pisa 249 

Portrait of Galileo 252 

Palazzo Vecchio, Florence , . 255 

Statue of Niobe, Florence 257 

Florence Cathedral 26 1 

Baptistery of Florence Cathedral 265 

Interior of Chiesa di Santa Croce 267 

Corso dei Barberi 270 

Madonna del Seggiola 274 

Colosseum of Rome 277 

Interior of the Colossexim 279 

The Pantheon 281 

St. Peter's, from the East, above the 

Bridge of St. Angelo, at Rome 283 

Bird's-Eye View of St. Peter's 285 

Central Nave of St. Peter's 287 

Bas-Reliefs on Trajan's Column 292 

Trajan's Column, at Rome 293 

The Forum, at Rome 297 

Piazza del Popolo, from the Pincian Hill 301 

Piazza of Monte Cavailo 304 

Arch of Constantine 305 

Cloaca Maxima, Temple of Vesta, and 

Temple of Fortune 306 

Ruins of the Palace of the Csesars 309 

Group of the Laocoon 31i 

The Camtol - 314 

The Dying Gladiator 317 

Cupid and Psyche 319 

The Loggia of Raphael in the Vatican . . 321 
The School of Athens, by Raphael — 

from a Fresco in the Vatican 323 

Poesy of Raphael — from a Fresco in the 

Vatican 225 

Head of Nero — from a Bust in the Vat- 
ican. 328 

The Apollo Belvidere 329 

Head of Antoninus — from a Bust in the 

Vatican 331 

Egyptian Columns 335 

The Mamertine Prison 338 

Fontana Paolina 340 

Fountain of the Prince of Palestine — 

by Bernini 341 

Roman Horserace — Horses preparing 

to start 343 

II Giuoco alia Ruzzica 345 

The Game of the Morra 347 



The Canofieno 349 

Cassetta de Burattini 352 

Tomb of Clement XIL, in St. Peter's, 

at Rome 356 

Pyramid of Caius Cestius 358 

The Catacombs 359 

Tomb of Cecilia Metella 360 

Temple of the Sibyl 363 

Horsemen Driving Wild Cattle in the 

Maremma 366 

Driving Wild Cattle on Foot 367 

Wine-Making 369 

The Return from the Vintage 371 

Naples 375 

Chart of Naples 377 

Castello Nuovo, and Castle of Sant' 

Elmo, Naples 379 

Rolls of Papyrus from Herculaneum. . . 383 

Italian Letter-Writer 385 

Neapolitan Peasants 386 

Sailors on the Molo, at Naples, hearing 

the History of Rinaldo 389 

The Neapolitan Calesso 393 

Bacchante taming a Centaur 394 

Virgil's Tomb 396 

The Grotto of Posilippo 397 

Masques from Herculaneum 400 

Mount Vesuvius 401 

View of the Street of Tombs, Pompeii. . 403 

Mosaic at Pompeii ' 404 

Female Artist copying Bacchus 405 

Baker's Shop and Mill, Pompeii 407 

Grotesque Representation of a Portrait 

Painter's Studio 408 

Ruins of the Temple of Isis, Pompeii. . 410 

Candelabra found at Pompeii 411 

Implements of Building found at Pom- 
peii 412 

Large Theatre at Pompeii 413 

Tragic Scenes — from a Painting found 

at Pompeii 414 

House of the Faun, and its Mosaic Floors 417 

Mount Vesuvius 419 

Restored View of Pompeii 422 

Interior of the Temple of Neptune .... 424 

Temple of Neptune, at Paestum 425 

Arch of Trajan, at Benevento 427 

Leaning Towers of Bologna 429 

Distant View of Venice from the Sea. . 430 
Fishermen of Chioggia, preparing to de- 
part for the deep-sea Fishery 431 

St. Mark's Cathedral 432 

Cathedra] of Milan 434 

Coach of Milan in the 16th century.. . 435 

City of Palermo, in Sicily 437 

Interior of the Grotto of St. Rosalia. . . 439 

Festival of St. Rosalia 441 

Volcano of Stromboli 442 

Cloister of Monreale 443 

Greek Theatre, Syracuse 445 

Volcano of Mount Etna 447 

Salt-Springs in Sicily 450 

Temple of Segesta 451 

Temple of Concord, Agrigentum 453 

Ruins of Selinuntum (now called Seli- 
nunte) 455 



EMBELLISHMENTS. 



11 



MALTA. 

PAGE. 

Malta 459 

Valetta, looking into the Harbor from 
Fort Ricasoli 461 

Grand-Master, of the Order of Malta.. 464 
Grand-Marshal, of the Order of Malta . . 464 
Maltese Lady, wearing the " Faldetta," 

and attended by her Servant 466 

Sailors and Maltese Calesso 471 

TYROL. 

Tyrolese Mountaineer 473 

Innspruck, Capital of the Tyrol 475 

Monument to Andrew Hofer, in the 
Cathedral-Church of the Holy Cross, 

at Innspruck 478 

Tyrolese Peasant 480 

Valley of Meran — Vine-Trellis over the 

Road — Tyrolese Peasants 483 

Waterfall of GoUing 485 

View of Castel-Val . 487 

Alpine Peasants returning Home 489 

Interior of a TjTolean Peasant's House 491 

Valley of Non 493 

Child saved by a Dog 494 



SWITZERLAND. 

PAGE. 

An Old Man and Girl of the Canton of 

Soleure 505 

William Tell's Chapel, at Kussnacht. .. 509 

Friburg Suspension Bridge 511 

Sections of the Suspension Bridge at 

Friburg 513 

Chamois-Hunters 517 

Children at Play — from a Drawing by 

Godfrey Mind 519 

Amusements of Children — from a Draw- 
ing by Godfrey Mind 520, 521 

BELGIUM. 

Hotel de Ville of Brussels 523 

Church of St. Gudule, Brussels ... 525 

Ruins of the Chateau of Hougoumont. . 529 

West Front of Antwerp Cathedral 531 

Furnes 533 

Coronation of Louis le Gros 534 

HOLLAND. 

Stadthouse of Amsterdam 542 

University of Leyden 593 



SCENES AND SKETCHES 



IN 



CONTINENTAL EUEOPE. 



CHAPTER I.— FRANCE. 



Among the countries comprising Continental Europe, France stands foremost in 
the arts of life and civilization, in the tribute paid to genius and talent ; and in her 
devotion to literature and learning, although not blessed with a republican form of 
government — and although there is less democracy in her political institutions than 
in Great Britain — still the cosmopolite is more independent than in any other coun- 
try, and more free to do and to speak. 

In alluding briefly to the physical and statistical characteristics of this fine coun- 
try, we shall mention its boundaries: Belgium, Switzerland, and Piedmont, on the 
east ; the Mediterranean, with Spain, on the south ; and the sea on the west and 
north. It lies between the forty-third and fifty-first degrees of north latitude, and is 
particularly fortunate in its frontier, having strong natural barriers in the Pyrenees, 
the Alps, the ridge of Jura, and the Vosges ; it is open only on the side of Belgium. 
Its length from east to west (from Alsace to Britany), is 650 miles ; its breadth from 
north to south about 560 ; its superficial extent is computed at 131,000,000 of Eng- 
lish acres. 

France, generally*speaking, presents a level but not undiversified surface ; the 
only mountains that deserve the name are found in the district of Auvergne. They 
are connected with those of Dauphine, Provence, and Languedoc. The general 
declination is toward the ocean and the Mediterranean ; the coasts rise gently from 
the sea, and in few places exhibit cliffs or dangerous surfs. The finest parts of 
France lie along the course of the Seine to Paris ; thence by the great road to Mou- 
lins and Auvergne, thence to Viviers on the Rhone, and thence along the course of 
that river to Aix. The provinces of Bretagne, Maine, and Angouleme have, in gen- 
eral, the appearance of deserts. Some parts of Touraine are rich and pleasing ; 
but most of it is deficient in beauty. Picardy is uninteresting. Poitou is by no 
means pleasant ; and its extensive marshes resemble the Norfolk and Lincolnshire 
fens. Champagne is scarcely more interesting, in general, than Poitcfu. Lorraine, 
Franche-Comte, and Burgundy, even where well-wooded, are gloomy and destitute 
of cheerfulness. The same character applies to Berry and La Marche ; though the 
chestnut-tree makes its first appearance here, and it is not easy to conceive how 
much the luxuriant verdure of this tree increases the beauty of the landscape. Mr. 
Young says that the Limousin possesses more natural beauty than any other prov- 
ince of France ; hill and dale, woods, lakes, streams, and scattered farms, are min- 
gled everywhere through its whole extent, in a thousand delicious pictures. The 



14 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Vivarraise along the Rhone, and the adjoining parts of Dauphine, are most roman- 
tic ; while, on the other hand, Sologne is so far from being beautiful, that its name 
has, in some measure, become proverbial for its melancholy appearance. The pic- 
turesque beauty of the hilly parts of France is heightened by the rich and luxuriant 
verdure of the chestnut- trees, particularly in the Limousin, the Vivarraise, and Au- 
vergne. Provence is rather gloomy than otherv^ise, the verdure being injured by 
the hue of the olive-tree ; and the scenery of the plains of Burgundy is insipid. 

The soil, as well as climate, of France, varies in different provinces, but is in 
general productive. The northeast is the richest and best cultivated district of the 
kingdom, and there are admirable corn-districts along the Seine, the Somme, the 
Rhine, and the Moselle. The chalk and calcareous hills of Champagne and Bur- 
gundy produce the finest vines. The soil of the basin of the Garonne is warmer 
but less productive than that of the northern districts. According to Young, there 
are seven different kinds of soil in France, viz. : 1, rich loam ; 2, heath ; 3, moun- 
tain ; 4, chalk ; 5, gravel ; 6, stone ; 7, sand, granite, gravel, &c. From a mode of 
calculation, of which he gives the particulars, Mr. Young estimates the quantity of 
acres of each kind of soil, as follows : Rich loam, 28,385,675 acres ; heath, 
25,513,213 do. ; mountain, 28,707,037 do. ; chalk, 16,584,889 do. ; gravel, 3,827,282 
do.; stone, 20,412,171 do.; sand, granite, gravel, stone, &c., 8,292,444: total, 
131,722,711. 

The climate of a country so extensive as France must necessarily be various ; 
yet this diversity may be regarded on the whole as perhaps more favorable to the 
sustenance and comfort of human life than the climate of any other region in Eu- 
rope. In the northern districts the climate is hotter and more moist in the sum- 
mer than in the southwest part of England. In the department of Finisterre an 
almost perpetual mist obscures the sky. It rains almost incessantly at Brest and 
Morlaix ; and the inhabitants are said to be so accustomed to dampness and wet, 
that dry seasons prove prejudicial to their health. The heat in summer is always 
moderate here; and the cold less intense, by six or seven degrees, than in Paris. 
The humidity of the climate of Normandy is fully proved by the beautiful verdure 
of its rich pastures ; yet, even at a distance from the coast, the rains in the north of 
France are extremely heavy, and of much longer duration than in England. In 
winter they experience heavier snows, and more severe frosts, than the natives of 
southern England ; and whenever there is a long and sharp frost in the north of 
Europe, it is felt much more severely in Paris than in London. The central division 
of France possesses the best climate. In Touraine and the Limousin no snow falls, 
sometimes for the space of many years, and frost seldom occurs. There are nei- 
ther the fogs and mists of Bretagne, nor the excessive humidity of Normandy, nor 
the burning sun of the southern provinces. The air is pure, light, and elastic, and 
the spring a continuance of such weather as is enjoyed in England about the mid- 
dle of May. The harvest commences about the latter end of June, but is some- 
times so late as the middle of July. The great heats are from the middle of July 
to the middle of August. Still, however, the climate of the central provinces has 
its disadvantages. All the country south of the Loire is subject to violent storms of 
hail and rain, the former occasionally beating down and destroying all the corn 
and vintage on which it may fall. These hailstorms are so frequent and ruinous, 
that it is calculated, on an average, that one tenth of the whole produce in the 
south of France is damaged by them. Thunder-storms are also frequent and vio- 
lent in the south of France. The cataracts which then rush down the mountains 
carry ruin and desolation along with them, burying those meadows which, a few- 
hours before, were covered with beautiful verdure, under heaps of stones, or masses 
of liquid mud, and cutting the sides of the mountains into deep ravines, where for- 
merly the smallest track of a rivulet was not to be discovered. In most parts of 
France frosts are experienced so late in spring, and so early in autumn, as greatly 
to injure vegetation. The high country of Auvergne is blf ak and cold ; and all the 
districts of the Vosges mountains are affected by the snow upon them, which some- 
times falls so late as the end of June. 

In the southern provinces, the greatest heats seldom occur till the 15th of July, 
nor after the 15th of September. Harvest generally begins on the 24th of June, 
and ends the 15th of July. The middle of the vintage is about the end of Septem- 
ber. During the continuance of the hot weather, scarcely any one who can avoid 
it thinks of quitting his house during the middle of the day. During the end of 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 15 

autumn and the beginning of winter violent rains frequently fall ; but, in the inter- 
vals between the rains, October and November may be regarded as the pleasaivtest 
months in the year. In December, January, and February, the weather is generally 
fine ; but after February the wind called the bise or mistral is very frequent. It is a 
strong north or northeast wind, generally accompanied with a clear sky, and not 
unfrequently with snow. It is sometimes so violent on the mountains as to blow a 
man off his horse. It seldom lasts longer than three days at a time ; but when felt 
it seems to pierce through the whole system. About Avignon the winters are ren- 
dered by it most distressingly cold ; and the olive-trees sometimes perish to their 
very roots. Some parts of the coast of Provence, as about Toulon and Hieres, are 
still milder than the neighborhood of Marseilles and Aix ; but the northern and 
more mountainous parts of this province often experience very severe weather in 
winter. The vast swarms of flies and musquitoes in the summer months must be 
ranked among the chief inconveniences of the southern provinces. 

The climate of France naturally divides itself into four zones, according to the 
vegetable produce which each affords. The most northern zone considerably re- 
sembles England, in vegetation and climate. The second differs from the preceding 
cbiefly in exhibiting here and there a few vineyards. Fields of maize begin to make 
their appearance in the third ; and the fourth is distinguished from all the former 
by the intermixture of olives and mulberries with corn, vines, and maize. Coucy, 
ten miles north of Soissons ; Clermont, in the Beauvaissis ; Beaumont, in Maine; 
and Herbignac, in Britany, mark the dividing line between vines and no vines. The 
separating line between maize and no maize is first seen on the western side of the 
kingdom, in going from Angoumois and entering Poitou, at Verac near Ruffec ; and 
is met with in crossing Lorraine, between Nancy and Luneville. These lines are 
not parallel to the degrees of latitude ; but proceed in an oblique line from south- 
west to northeast, parallel to each other. The line which is formed by the vines 
is nearly unbroken ; but that formed by the maize, in the central part of France, 
proceeds no further north than the south of the Limousin. The line of olives 
is also pretty nearly in the same oblique direction from northeast to south- 
west. It passes through Carcassone, near the Spanish frontier, and Montelimart, 
upon the Rhone, south of Lyons. Hence Mr. Young concludes that the eastern 
parts of France indicate by their productions two and a half degrees latitude of more 
heat than the western — a generalization somewhat erroneous. The surface of France 
rises gradually toward the east, and has consequently a lower mean temperature on 
the eastern side than on the western ; and the heat is more unequally distributed in 
the seasons, the winter being more vigorous, the summer more ardent. Hence the 
eastern provinces are better fitted for the culture of such plants as, being annual 
like maize, or losing their leaves like the vine, totally escape the severity of winter. 
The western side of France, on the other hand, is better suited to the growth of 
such plants as are injured by cold : as the kermes-oak, the cork-tree, and the fig-tree. 

We shall now proceed to despribe some of the most remarkable cities of France ; 
and first, Paris. 

Paris is the metropolis of France, and one of the largest and richest cities of Eu- 
rope. It is situated in a valley, on both banks of the Seine. The river crosses it 
from east to west, dividing it into two nearly equal parts ; it then divides itself into 
two branches, which again unite, after forming three considerable islands. The com- 
munication between the banks of the river and the islands is effected by a great 
number of bridges, many of which are remarkable for the beauty of their construc- 
tion, and join the quays, which are intended rather for ornament than for business. 
The environs do not exhibit much variety. Instead of gardens, parks, and country- 
seats, Paris, on several sides, presents large tracts of unenclosed cornfields. The 
stream of life in the great streets, crowd of wagons, carriages, and horsemen, is not 
so great as in the neighborhood of London. Most of the streets, however, are wide, 
airy, watered by numerous fountains, and full of magnificent hotels and shops. The 
finest approach to Paris is by St. Germain, a broad, straight street, lined with lofty 
buildings, leading from Neuilly to the city, where the view is terminated by the Arc 
de I'Etcile, which stands on an elevation ; from this to the charming Champ Elysees 
extends a walk about a mile and a half in length, planted with fine elms, and lined 
on both sides with handsome houses and beautiful gardens. The next objects are 
the Tuilleries, with its gardens and statues ; the Seine, with its bridges and quays ; 
and the Place Vendome, with its triumphal column. The circuit of the city, as 



16 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

marked by a wall raised in 1787, to prevent smuggling-, is fourteen miles, its greatest 
breadth three miles, its greatest length above five. The original soil on which Paris 
is built, is a marly gypsum, and a great portion of the southern part of the city is 
built over the immense quarries which form the catacombs. 

Previous, however, to entering into a lengthened detail of the public edifices and 
institutions which grace this distinguished city, we must proceed to give a brief 
description of its foundation and gradual increase from an inconsiderable village to 
its present rank and political importance among the cities of civilized Europe. 
Paris evidently owes its foundation to the means of defence afforded in early ages by 
the insular position of the spots how called the Cite and Isle of St. Louis. It was 
small but strong, when, under the name of Lutetia, it offered a temporary resistance 
to a Roman detachment sent against it by Caesar. The Romans, after they had 
taken the city, made important improvements in the fortifications, erected an aque- 
duct, and the public building called Thermae, from its warm baths. But it remained 
in comparative obscurity until the reign of Julian, who erected a splendid palace 
during his stay in the town. Its advantageous situation soon made it a place of 
great trade. In 486 the Franks conquered it, and made it the capital of their king- 
dom. It was considerably improved by Charlemagne, who instituted the schools, 
from which, at a later period, sprung the university. After Hugh Capet, count of 
Paris, the first king of the third race, ascended the throne in 987, Paris remained 
the residence of the kings until Louis XIV., whom the Fronde had driven from the 
capital in 1649, made Versailles the royal residence. Hugh Capet resided in the 
Palais de Justice. The place increased, and was divided into four quarters. Under 
Louis le Gros, not more than above twelve francs of taxes were collected monthly at 
the northern gate, in the neighborhood of the present street St. Martin. In 1165, 
Bishop Maurice de Sully nearly completed the cathedral of Notre Dame, as it is 
still to be seen; and in the same century the Templars built their palace on the 
square, where at present is the Market du Temple. In 1190, Philip Augustus, who 
had caused Paris to be paved, ordered a third enlargement, and divided the city into 
eight quarters or divisions. Until that period it had but three gates ; then it re- 
ceived fifteen. In the thirteenth century St. Louis founded the hospital of the 
QuinzeVingts for the blind, and a number of convents. After the abolition of the 
order of Templars, in 1312, Philip the Fair, in 1314, caused the grand-master. Mo- 
lay, and several knights, to be burned in the Place Dauphine, so called, at least, be- 
fore the revolution of 1830. Under Philip of Valois, Paris contained 150,000 inhab- 
itants ; but the black death, so called, which ravaged Europe about the middle o£ 
the fourteenth century, destroyed more than half the inhabitants. About this time, 
the Hotel de Ville, on the Place de G-reve, was commenced ; and in 1367, the fourth 
enlargement of Paris took place under Charles V. Until that time, Paris had only 
two bridges, one toward the north, Le Pont au Change ; the other toward the south, 
Le Peiit Pont. In 1378, the third, Le Pont St. Michael, opposite the present street 
Laharpe, was built. The fourth bridge, called Pont Notre Dame, was erected soon 
after. In 1418, Paris was visited by famine and pestilence, by which 100,000 per- 
sons perished in three months. 

In 1420, Paris was taken by the English, who retained it for some years, but.they 
were finally expelled by Charles VII., and shortly after, the city suffered so severely 
from plague and famine, that it was almost depopulated. In the succeeding reign, 
Paris was greatly improved and extended. The foundation of the royal college was 
laid by Francis I., who also erected a magnificent palace on the site of the old tow- 
ers of the Louvre. Streets were formed in different parts of the city, and several 
splendid churches were erected in this reign. The Grecian orders of architecture 
were now, for the first time, introduced into the edifices of Paris, and the interior of 
the public buildings were adorned with sculpture, and the paintings of the Italian 
school. Under Louis XIV. was effected the great improvement of levelling the 
Boulevards or great circular mound, filling up the moat, and planting the whole 
with beautiful rows of trees. Versailles, however, was still the chief care of the 
Bourbons ; and Paris received only slow and partial embellishments, until the revo- 
lution, when Napoleon, zealous to make the French nation the ruling power of Eu- 
rope, and Paris the capital of the world, collected together the finest portions of both 
modern and ancient art, partly as trophies of his own victorious arms, and partly 
from a desire to render the capital of France as distinguished for the magnificence 
of its arts and architecture, as it was for its science and learning. He freed the 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE,— FRANCE. 17 

bridges and banks of the Seine from the embarrassment and deformity of the old 
houses, by which they were still crowded, built magnificent quays and wharfs, and 
erected several bridges, which are remarkable for their beauty. He also provided 
public fountains, which were abundantly supplied with water. The people, not 
merely of Paris, but of the whole kingdom, are indebted to him for those spacious 
markets, so admirably arranged for the sale of every kind of produce, for public 
stores, which surprise by their vastness, and astonish by their architectural grandeur. 
He erected several abattoirs beyond the city walls, and thus relieved the inhabitants 
of Paris from the inconvenient and dangerous presence of herds of cattle, and the 
revolting spectacle of blood. He cleared the Place du Carousel, between the Louvre 
and the Tuilleries, of its obstructions, and adorned it with a triumphal arch ; and 
completed the Louvre, filled its gallery with sculptures and paintings, and built a 
second gallery from the adjacent angle, so as to complete the square of the vast area 
of the Carousel, and the junction of the Louvre with the Tuilleries. Many of the 
public improvements which were commenced by Bonaparte, but left unfinished, have 
since been carried on; many were completed after the restoration -of the Bourbon 
family to the throne of France, and during the reign of Louis Philippe. , 

A history of Paris is, to a considerable degree, a history of France, so much has 
this city, during the last centuries, concentrated in itself all the vital action of France. 
This has had several good and many evil consequences; and true liberty, the life- 
blood which should animate all parts of the body politic, can not be domesticated in 
France until the departments and provincial towns have resumed their proper im- 
portance. The preponderance of Paris over all France, not only in a political sense, 
but in literature, arts, customs, &c., is immense, and was most strikingly manifested 
during the revolution of the last century. 

On the 31st of March, 1814, the taking of Paris concluded the campaign of the 
allies against Napoleon. The congress of Chatillon had been broken up. Thirty 
thousand men, under Marmont, Mprtier, and Compans, with 150 cannons, occupied 
the fortified heights before Paris, in a semicircle, from Charenton and Nogenton the 
Marne to Neuilly on the Seine. By degrees, 120,000 men were brought against 
them. With the break of day on the^ 30th, the battle began. After an obstinate 
struggle, the allies succeeded in taking' the heights of Belleville ; the village Lavil- 
lette was taken by assault, while other troops advanced through Neuilly on the 
Marne, and Nogent sur Marne toward Vincemies, where the bridge of Charenton 
was taken by assault, and w-here 150 e eves of the veterinary school of Alfort died a 
heroic death. Bliicher, at the same tim'e, drew near, passing through St. Denis, and 
Montmartre was taken by assault at three o'clock in the afternoon. Marmont, in 
the meantime, had proposed an armistice to General Schwartzenberg, which was 
concluded at three o'clock. At six o'clock, Counts Nesselrode, Orloff, and Paar went 
to Paris, where the conditions of surrende'r were concluded on the 31st, at two 
o'clock in the morning. The corps of Marmont and Mortier were to leave Paris at 
seven o'clock, and hostilities were not to begin before nine o'clock. The city was 
recommended to the mercy of the allies. The victory of Paris cost the latter 9,000 
men ; the French lost 4,000 besides the prisoners, and more than one hundred can- 
nons. The troops of the allies were kept under strict discipline. The French made 
loud complaints of outrages, and though it is impossible that so large an army should 
take possession of a hostile city without some cases of violence, the behavior of the 
armies must be allowed to have been very strictly regulated, particularly if compared 
with that of the French armies in Vienna, Berlin, and other great cities, where cru- 
elty was added to injury. The French even went so far as to complain bitterly of 
the allies for taking the works of art which Napoleon had carried from their 
countries. 

When Napoleon returned to Paris in 1815, and lost the battle of Waterloo, Da- 
voust received the command of about 60,000 men for the defence of Paris. It was 
difl&cult to attack the city, as formerly, from the north and east, because the heights 
and villages were fortified, and well supplied with artillery. The British, therefore, 
remained before these lines, and the Prussians passed over the Seine to attack Paris 
from Versailles. The city is weakest on this side, and might also be forced to sur- 
render by cutting off all the supplies of provisions which come from Normandy. 
On June 30, 1815, therefore, the first and' third Prussian corps marched to St. Ger- 
main ; the fourth remained in its former position until the arrival of the English ; 
and on July 2, the third corps marched though Versailles to Plessis Piquet, the first 

2 



18 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

through Vaucresson to Sevres and Meudon ; the fourth, which was to act as a re- 
serve, was placed at Versailles. The enemy had been driven back at Sevres and 
Plessis Piquet, as far as Vaugirard and Montrouge, and had occupied Issy. A coun- 
cil of war, held at Paris, almost unanimously determined that Paris was untenable ; 
but in order to make a last attempt, Vandamme advanced on the morning of the 
3d, with 10,000 men, and attacked Issy. He was repulsed after several hours' fight- 
ing, and the surrender of Paris was resolved on. The capitulation Avas concluded 
at St. Cloud on the same day. The French army was to leave Paris within three 
days, and cross the Loire within eight days ; Montmartre was to be surrendered July 
5, and all the barriers on the 6th. July 7, the Prussian army entered the barrier of 
the military school, and part of the English army that of St. Denis. Louis XVIII. 
arrived the next day. 

The next great political event of which the city of Paris became the theatre, was 
the revolution of 1830, which ended in the dethronement of Charles X. and the ele- 
vation of Louis Philippe I. to the throne of France. During that short and memo- 
rable revolution, the greatest part of the street lamps were broken ; 4055 barricades 
thrown up with great rapidity, consisting of the pavement torn up for the purpose, 
of coaches and other vehicles, trees, &c. : 3,125,000 paving-stones were dislodged, 
and the paving the streets again cost 250,000 francs. We shall speak of this 
hereafter. 

"We may, in the first instance, enumerate the principal ecclesiastical edifices. 
The cathedral of Notre Dame occupies the southeast corner of the small island in 
the Seine, called the Isle de la Cite, or the Isle du Palais, and is consequently 
almost in the centre of Paris. It is a Gotliic building, venerable for its antiquity^ 
and also, in its architectural character not destitute either of grandeur or beauty, 
although it can not be ranked, upon the whole, among the happiest specimens of the 
style to which it belongs. The site of the church of Notre Dame appears to have 
been devoted to sacred purposes from very early times. In making some excava- 
tions under the choir, in March, 1711, there were found, at the depth of fifteen feet 
below the surface, nine stones, bearing inscriptions and figures in bas-relief, which 
seemed to have originally formed an altar, dedicated conjointly to Esus, or Eus (the 
Celtic god of battle and slaughter), to Jupiter, Vulcan, Castor, and Pollux. From 
the circumstance of ashes and incense being still found in the hole where the fire 
had been placed, it was inferred that the altar had stood on the same spot Avhere its 
ruins were discovered. It is probable, however, that it stood in the open air ; for 
ithere is no reason to believe that any pagan tem.ple was ever erected within the 
bounds of this islet. These sacred edifices among the ancient Gauls were, for the 
most part, placed outside the towns ; and this seems clearly to have been the case 
with those at Paris. The first Christian church which Paris possessed was erected 
on or close to the site of the present cathedral. Its date is assigned to about the 
year 375, in the reign of Valentinian I. This church was dedicated to St. Stephen, 
and it was for a long time the only one in the city. About the year 522, Childebert 
I., the son of Clovis, erected another close beside it, which he dedicated to the Vir- 
gin. The present cathedral may be considered as uniting these two churches, cov- 
ering as it does nearly the whole Space which they formerly occupied. It was begun 
to be built, according to some accounts, about the year ]010, in the reign of Robert 
II., surnamed the Devout, the son and successor of Hugh Capet; while others refer 
it to the time of Robert's great-great-grandson, Louis VII. or the Young, in the year 
1160. It is most probable, however, that it was not really commenced till after the 
accession of Louis's celebrated son and successor, Philip II., usually called Philip 
Augustus, who occupied the throne from 1180 to 1223. The work was carried on 
witli the extreme deliberation common in those times, in the case of structures 
which were intended for the utmost possible duration ; and it was not quite finished 
till the close of the reign of Philip VI., or about the middle of the fourteenth 
century. 

The principal front of the cathedral of Notre Dame is the west. It consists of 
three portals, surmounted by a pillared gallery, over which again are a great central 
and two side windows, from which the principal light for the body of the church is 
derived. Over the windows is another gallery, supported by columns, from the 
extremities of which rise two towers, 204 feet in height, but more remarkable for 
&' ^'dity than elegance. The architecture of this front is altogether of a very florid 
description, and presents many grotesque ornaments. Originally, a flight of thirteen 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 




Principal Front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame. 



20 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

• 
steps used to lead up to the doors ; hut such has been the accumulation of the sur 
rounding soil, that it is now considerably higher than the floor of the church. The 
gallery immediately over the doors used formerly to contain twenty-eight statues of 
the kings of France, from Childebert to Philip Augustus, inclusive, but these were 
pulled down and destroyed in the early fury of the Revolution. The cathedral, in- 
deed, sustained many other injuries beside this in the confusion of those times. Of 
its most ancient and curious ornaments, the greater number were carried away ; nor 
have all the efforts that have since been made, both by Bonaparte and the Bourbons, 
eifected its restoration to its former splendor. 

The walls of the cathedral of Notre Dame are remarkably thick. The dimensions 
of the interior are, 414 feet in length by 144 in widtli. The roof is 102 feet high. 
The columns from which the arches spring, by which the roof and galleries are sus- 
tained, amount in all to nearly three hundred, and each is formed of a single block 
of SI one. 

The nave is flanked by a double aisle, and forty-five chapels ; but the effect of this 
quadruple range of columns is diminished by the mixture of the clustered Gothic 
with the massive and clumsy corrupted Roman. A double arcade surmounts the 
nave. The circular windows of the fapade and transepts being the only ones of col- 
ored glass, the quantity of light generally admitted into the building is out of keep- 
ing M'ith its massive character. The exterior of the choir is ornamented with a cu- 
iious series of ancient bas-reliefs, representing scripture histories, by Jean Rovy and 
his nephew, Jean le Boutelier, who completed them in 1351. The high altar and 
interior of the choir were repaired and ornamented for Bonaparte's coronation ; but 
as these improvements were made without any leference to the general stjde of the 
building, they are but li+tle in unison with its architectural character. The stalls 
are handsomely carved in wood ; above them are eight large scripture pieces, by 
Halle, Jouvenet, Philippe de Champagne, La Fosse, Louis Boulougne, and Antoine 
Coypel. On each side of the altar are colossal statues of Louis XIH. and XIV., in 
white marble, by Couston and Coyzevox. 

In a chapel to the left of the choir, near the bottom of the church, is a monument 
to the memory of Cardinal de Belloy. The whole is of white marble, and of co- 
lossal proportions. The cardinal, seated in an arm-chair placed on his tomb, is rep- 
resented as bestowing alms on a poor woman, supported by a young female, whose 
countenance expresses gratitude and respect. In the prelate's hand is an open Bible, 
with an inscription. On the same side appears St. Denis, standing on a cloud, with 
a scroll in his left hand, bearing the names of the bishops of Paris, his successors, 
and precursors of the cardinal, to whom he is pointing with his right hand. Among 
the Monumens Francais, there is a mausoleum belonging to Notre Dame, of a much 
higher character than the one we have been describing. It is that of Henri Claude, 
Comte d'Harcourt, marshal of France, who died in 1709. At the foot of his open- 
ing coffin, his wife bends forward in an attitude eager and supplicatory ; the marshal 
is raising himself feebly, and looking toward her with a countenance of living 
. death. His grave-clothes have partly fallen off, and discover his emaciated body ; a 
shrouded skeleton at the head of the coffin is immediately recognised as the grisly 
king of terrors, who stretches out a minute-glass, as if to limit the period of resus- 
citation, and again claim his victim. The design was suggested by a dream of 
Madame d'Harcourt, the night after her husband's death. 

The abbey-church of St. Germain-des-Pres is remarkable for its antiquity. It 
was founded by Childebert, in 558, in honor of St. Vincent's shirt, which this mon- 
arch is said to have brought as a trophy from Saragossa, together with a large cross 
from Toledo. It was known at this period by the name of St. Germain-le-Dore, 
from the gilding employed on its roof. Childebert was himself buried in it, as well 
as St. Germain ; and part of the western tower is believed by antiquaries to belong 
to the original edifice. The principal part of the building had, however, been three 
times burned by the Normans, when Abbot Morard began to restore it in 990, and 
completed it, nearly as ii. now stands, in 1014. Considerable repairs were made in 
1646, when the roof was, for the first time, vaulted with stone, the windows en- 
larged, the columns ornamented with capitals, and other changes made, which did 
not, however, extend to any essential alteration in the character of the edifice. Its 
appearance is gloomy and mean. The arches are round, except in the semi-circular 
arcade, at the eastern end, where they are pointed, in consequence of the contracted 
space between the pillars; and this is one among a number of instances where the 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



21 




Church of St. Gervais. 



22 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



pointed arch was used fi-om accident and necessity, before it generally became an 
object of taste. 

The abbey-church of St. Genevieve is reckoned among the most ancient edifices 
of France, part of the existing building being referred to the age of Clevis, by 
whom it was founded under the name of St. Peter and St. Paul, though the greater 
part of it was rebuilt in 1177. It is a mean structure, without transepts ; the col 
umns of the nave are Lombard, and of unequal size; the windows lancet-shaped, 
It contained the sepulchre of Clovis, whose figure was placed on his tombstone, 
with his diadem and sceptre, and the marks of consular dignity conferred on him, 
according to general belief by the Emperor Anastasius. 

St. Germain I'Auxerrois is a Gothic edifice of the eleventh century ; but has no 
particular merit, except that it contains the tombs of the Count de Caylus, the 
Chancellor Olivier, Malherbe the poet, Madame Dacier, as well as of several art- 
ists, and several other celebrated characters. 

St. Gervais presents a curious specimen of the treatment to which Gothic edifices 
were subjected on the revival, as it was called, of the arts. This church was re- 
built in 1212, and repaired in 1581. Its style is Gothic, with a considerable degree 
of elegance; but instead of entering it by a corresponding facade, the visiter is sur- 
prised to see a towering pile of porches, rising story above story, to the height of 
above 150 feet : the lower columns are Doric, the central Ionic ; and four of the 
Corinthian order, supporting a circular pediment, terminate this ingenjous mask, 
which was put upon the old building in 1619. 

The churches of St. Eustache and St. Elienne-du-Mont exhibit the degeneracy of 
Gothic architecture, when it was supposed to be improved by a mixture of Grecian 
ornament. The former was built in 1532, the latter was not finished until 1616. 
The sanctuary of St. Eustache is ornamented by five scriptural pieces, by Charles 
Vanloo, and a virgin, in white marble, by Pigalle. 

The church of St. Etienne-du-Mont, though clumsy in its general style of archi- 
tecture, is remarkable for the boldness of the screen, which separates, in the form 
of an arch, the nave from the choir. The two spiral stone staircases at either end 
of it look as if suspended in the air, notwithstanding their fretted massiveness. In 
the cloisters of this church is some beautifully painted glass, by Pinargrier. Many 
of the countenances, particularly those on board the ship of the gospel, have the 
air of portraits. 

The church of St. Sulpice is a most elaborate effort of bad taste. The portico is 
composed of a facade flanked by two towers; the former is consequently not a pro- 
jection, but a recess, of two stories, of which the lower entablature rests upon four 
Doric, and the upper upon the same number of Ionic columns. The towers are to- 




Church of St. Suloice. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



23 




24 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



tally dissimilar in design from the body of the edifice, and even from each other. 
They consist of two stories, the lower of which is a square, presenting on each of 
its sides four Corinthian columns, supporting a triangular pediment : the upper is a 
circular tower, surrounded by nine Corinthian columns, and terminated by a balus- 
trade. The extreme length of the interior is estimated at 336 feet. The height 
above the choir is ninety-nine feet ; the width of the latter is forty-two. The man- 
ner in which the light has been made to fall upon a statue of the virgin at the 
eastern extremity of the building has been much admired. A general view of the 
exterior of the building is given in the foregoing engraving. 

The church of St. Roch is rich in decoration ; but the most curious part of it is 
the chapel of Calvary, at the bottom of the building, which is fitted up to represent 
a dark cavern, with the incidents of the crucifixion. Groups of figures, rocks, and 
trees, are arranged as Ave sometimes see hermits' grottoes in tea-gardens. In one 
part of this chapel is a marble figure of Christ on the Cross. 

The splendid edifice, or rather dome, of the Invalids, may be considered as the 
chef-d'cEuvre of church-building in the age of Louis XIV., and though certainly a 
magnificent edifice, is strongly characterized by the architectural defects of thai 
time. The facade, ISO feet in width, and ninety-six high, is composed of two sto- 
ries, ornamented with Doric and Corinthian columns, and surmounted by a triangu- 
lar pediment. The dome is also divided into two stories, round the lower of which 
there is a series of columns, arranged in the form of little porticoes, to support the 
heavy buttresses of the second story, Avliich is crowned with a balustrade. The 
first defect observable in this exterior is the clumsiness of the double stories ; the 
second is the blankness arising from the want of a portico. The projecting but- 
tresses of the upper story of the dome take greatly from boldness and simplicity, 
which are the chief grace of such elevations. The whole is, besides, much too 
high and massive for the body of the edifice, which seems less to support than to 
be crushed beneath it. 




The Pantheon. 

The Pantheon is, perhaps, the happiest effort of French architecture. It is built 
in the form of a Greek cross, 340 feet long and 250 wide. The porch of the prin- 
cipal entrance is composed of a triple range of fluted Corinthian columns, fifty- 
eight feet high, and five and a half in diameter, supporting a triangular pediment ; 
the front of this porch is 120 feet long. The dome is composed of two stories, the 
lower of which is surrounded by thirty Corinthian columns, supporting a gallery 
and balustrade ; the upper story is plain, and surmounted by a cupola, which is six- 
ty-two feet eight inches in diameter; it is lighted by a small circular lantern, the 
height of which from the interior pavement is 282 feet. The first impression pro- 
duced by viewing this edifice, is of the superiority it derives from its portico of a 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 25 

single story, projecting with an impressive depth of shade, and magnificence of col- 
umns ; while the transepts behind it give a breadth and solidity to the whole edifice, 
which preserve its proportions with the superstructure. The dome is light and 
graceful, but it can scarcely be said to approach sublimity ; against which, nothing in 
architecture seems more to militate than minute gradations and divisions, of which 
there are four in this dome : namely, the lower story with its gallery, the upper 
story, the cupola, and the lantern, which itself has a bad effect, from being very 
like a miniature temple. Viewing the Pantheon angularly, there is a plainness in 
the sides and transepts, when contrasted with the magnificent portico, which gives 
the body of the edifice %n appearance of unfinished poverty. The basso-relievoes of 
the pediment are poliucal allegories. The foregoing cut represents the principal 
front of the edifice. 

The interior of the Pantheon is eminently graceful in its efiect, notwithstanding 
the four massive buttresses, which have been substituted in the place of columns 
for the support of the dome. The style of decoration is rich ; the pillars are Corin- 
1^hian, and the vaulted roof finished with basso-relievoes. The vaults and galleries 
beneath the Pantheon were, some years back, arranged as places of sepultuye. 
Each vault was fitted up to contain several rows of stone coffins, or sarcophagi, in 
which many dignitaries of the empire were installed. 

The most splendid of the modern erections in Paris, however, is decidedly the 
Madeleine church. The erection of this church, like that of many other of the pub- 
lic buildings in Paris, has been affected by the vicissitudes which public events 
have from time to time occasioned in France, during the last fifty years. The popu- 
lation of the village of Ville I'Eveque, now annexed to Paris, having, toward the 
middle of the last century, increased to such an extent as to require additional church 
accommodation, the construction of a new parochial church was commenced by 
direction of Louis XV. The first stone Avas laid on the 3d of April, 1764. In 1777 
the architect died, and the revolution of 1789 led to the suspension of the works. It 
was not likely that they should be resumed under the rule of Robespierre, and sev- 
eral years elapsed before the country was in a condition, either morally or financially, 
to enable the government to pay much attention to the erection of ecclesiastical edi- 
fices. After a delay of eighteen years, the Emperor Napoleon, under whom the 
military rather than the ecclesiastical power, was predominant, proposed to convert 
the building into a Temple of Glory, dedicated to his armies. The present structure 
was in consequence commenced in 1808. Again the works were suspended on ac- 
count of political events, and from 1813, when the allies invaded France, up to 
1816, no progress was made toward the completion of the building. In 1816 the 
clergy exercised greater influence than any other class in the state. A large portion 
of the nation was sick of the incense which had been perpetually offered to the mil- 
itary, and Louis XVIII. directed that the building should be completed as a church, 
and that it should contain monuments to the memory of Louis XVI. and his queen, 
Marie Antoinette, their young son Louis XVII., and Madame Elizabeth. This in- 
tention is not likely to be carried into effect, but the edifice is on the point of com- 
pletion, and will be used as a church. The Pantheon is already dedicated to the 
celebrated men whom France has produced, and that building is the depository of 
their remains. Napoleon, however, reversed the decree of the national assembly, 
and religious worship was, in consequence, again conducted within its walls. Under 
the restoration, the remains of Voltaire and Rousseau, which had been deposited in 
the building when it was intended to serve as the burial place of remarkable men, 
were removed to an obscure vault. Since the revolution of 1830, the Pantheon has 
again reverted to the purposes for which it was decreed by the national assembly. 

The form of the Madeleine is a parallelogram, surmounted by a portico formed 
of columns of the Corinthian order, which rest upon an elevated basement, and are 
surmounted by an entablature. Each front is supported by eight columns, and an em- 
blematic design, on a large scale, fills the angles of the pediment. The height of 
the basement is seven feet and a half, and of the columns, seventy-two feet. Eight 
Corinthian columns, fifty-four feet in height, divide the nave from the aisles. The 
architecture of La Madeleine forms a highly-striking contrast to that of Notre 
Dame. Each edifice represents an epoch, and the architecture of the middle ages 
is less in character with the present times, and the existing national spirit, than the 
fine specimen of an earlier style of architecture which the Madeleine presents. 

The position of the Madeleine is extremely well calculated to give effect to its 



26 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

magnificent and well-proportioned dimensions. In proceeding from the Boulevard 
des Italiens it catches the eye, and as the numerous Corinthian columns on which it 
rests, come successively into view, it can not fail to excite admiration, even in those 
who are ignorant of the rules of architectural elegance and beauty. Seen from the 
middle of the Place Louis XVI., though it enters into competition with other com- 
manding objects, it produces a fine effect. From the latter position are seen the 
Chamber of Deputies and the Bridge of Louis XVI., adorned with fine marble stat- 
ues ; and opposite to these objects is the Madeleine. la a northern direction, at the 
end of the vista formed by the avenue of the Champs Elysees, is the Arc de Tri- 
omphe ; and opposite to that fine monument is the palace of the Tuilleries and its 
pleasant gardens. 

Paris has five cemeteries: Pere-Ia-Chaise, Montmartre, Vaugirard, St. Catherine, 
and Ml. Parnasse. All these are ornamented, but the first more than any other, 
and, doubtless, gave an impetus to the Mount Auburn, Greenwood, and Laurel 
Hill, of America. 

The site of Pere-la-Chaise is a commanding eminence, called Mont-Louis, to the 
north of the city, being aprolongationof the heights of Montmartre. It covers a con- 
siderable extent of ground, the surface of which is irregular and undulating, and sha- 
ded in places with clumps of trees, very much in the manner of an English pleasure- 
ground. Winding gravel-walks divide it into plots of graves and tombstones; 
each of these is the cherished property of a family, and each stone gleams over a 
bed of flowers, surrounded by a light hedge, or trellis-work. " At the period of 
my visit," says a modern traveller, " the soil was literally glowing, and the air per- 
fumed, with these numberless patches of flowers. Pots, containing rare and deli- 
cate plants, were set round many of the tombs ; garlands and votive oflferings were 
suspended on others, by the hands of parental sorrow, filial aflTection, or youthful 
companionship. It may be that in many cases this was but the afi'ectation of feel- 
ing — a parade of sentiment — got up to look like sorrow. Our baser nature is but 
too apt to believe this; yet of all aflfectations, that surely is the most pardonable, 
which comes upon us in the guise of a mourner, watering flowers round the tomb. 
It is difficult, moreover, to imitate feelings of so sacred a character, without becom- 
ing, in a certain degree, susceptible of their influence ; it is difficult to plant a rose- 
bush on the grave of a parent, child, friend, or mistress, and see its blossoms ex- 
pand in a returning summer-sun, without directing a thought toward that mortal 
wreck upon which no sun shall shine again. It is difficult to have thoughts occa- 
sionally so bestowed, without somewhat disdaining our everyday selfishness, and 
feeling convinced to what a pitiful end we urge the toilsome march of vanity and 
passion. Thou art sleepless, O avarice ! careworn, and hast no man's blessing ; 
yet it were well done if thy ingots could redeem one friend from this ' cold obstruc- 
tion !' As it is, what profits it to have made life a torment ?" In the early ages of 
the French monarchy, it was distinguished by the name of " Bishop's Field" 
(Champ de VEveque), and doubtless belonged to the Bishop of Paris. It subse- 
quently passed through several hands, and was at length purchased, for about 
§35,000, by the prefect of the department of the Seine, to be converted into a cem- 
etery. It then consisted of forty-two acres. M. Brongiart was the person appoint- 
ed to adapt this spot to its new destination ; and in drawing his plan he took care 
to preserve whatever could be rendered subservient to the use or embellishment of 
the new establishment. To render access easy to diff'erent points, winding paths 
were formed, a wide paved road was opened to the spot where the mansion of 
Pere-la-Chaise formerly stood, and cypresses and willows were intermingled with 
the shrubs and the fruit-trees. The cemetery, thus prepared, was consecrated early 
in 1804, and on the 21st of May in the same j^ear the first corpse was interred. 

The advantageous situation of this spot, upon the slope of a hill, surrounded by 
luxuriant valleys and rising grounds, with the fine and picturesque view it com- 
mands, occasioned such a demand for its graves, that it has been enlarged, until it 
now comprehends an extent of nearly one hundred acres. Properly, the cemetery 
of Pere-la-Chaise is the burial-place of only the inhabitants of the fifth, sixth, sev- 
enth, eighth, and ninth wards of the city ; but when a perpetual right in the ground for 
a grave is purchased, remains may be brought from any part of the city, or even of 
the kingdom. This privilege has been so extensively used, that the burial-ground, 
which, by its regular destination, would have been principally occupied by the sober 
citizens of Paris, now contains the names of most of the illustrious dead of modem 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



27 




28 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

France. Hence no Parisian cemetery can be compared to this for the number and 
beauty of its monuments. Some of them, of large dimensions and elegant archi- 
tecture, are in the form of temples, sepulchral chapels, funeral vaults, pyramids, 
and obelisks ; while others present piers, columns, altars, urns, and tombs, variously; 
formed and ornamented. Many are surrounded by enclosures of wood or iron, 
within which are planted flowers and shrubs, and near some of them benches are 
placed for the accommodation of the friends of the deceased and other visiters. A 
subterranean canal, which formerly conveyed water to Mont-Louis House, still ex- 
ists, and furnishes a sufficient supply to keep the plants and herbage in perpetual 
verdure. Some families pay an annual sum to the gardener for cultivating the 
shrubs and flowers which have been planted upon the graves of their departed 
friends. 

It is impossible in this article to give even the most brief description of the nu- 
merous interesting monuments which Pere-la-Chaise exhibits. That of Abelard 
and Heloisa attracts the most attention, from its dimensions and beauty. Among 
the names commemorated by monuments are those of Laplace, Cuvier, Denon, Vol- 
ney, and Monge ; Fourcroy, the chymist ; Bocage and MentcUe, the geographers ; 
Langles, the orientalist ; Moliere ; La Fontaine, the fabulist ; St. Pierre, author of 
" Paul and Virginia ;" Talma, the actor ; Haiiy, who taught the blind to read by 
means of characters in wood; Sicard the distinguished instructor of the deaf and 
dumb ; Parmentier, to whom France is chiefly indebted for the general cultivation 
of the potato. Among military names may be mentioned those of Ney, Massena, 
Davoust, Caulincourt, Lauriston, Foy, Labedoyere. Among political names, Tal- 
lien, who for a time swayed the destinies of republican France, and -Manuel, the 
parliamentary orator. And, among women, Madame Dufresnoy, the " Tenth 
Muse;" Madame Cottin, authoress of the "Exiles of Siberia;" the beautiful and 
accomplished daughter of Cuvier ; Madame Blanchard, who perished in 1819 by 
her balloon taking fire ; and Mademoiselle Raucourt, the actress, to whose inter- 
ment in consecrated ground the clergy ofi"ered so much opposition as nearly to occa- 
sion a popular tumult. 

It was stated in 1830, that upward of 100,000 bodies had been interred in the 
cemetery of Pere-la-Chaise. Of this number, the friends and families of 15,000 
had erected monuments over their remains, of which 1,500 were rendered objects of 
more than ordinary attention by some striking peculiarity — by their neatness or 
magnificence, or from the interest connected with the names they commemorate. 

The cemetery is entirely surrounded by walls. The gate of the proper cemetery 
is in the centre of a semi-circular recess, decorated on each side with piers and fu- 
neral ornaments. On the gate is a Latin inscription from the book of Job, xix. 25 ; 
on the right is another, from John, x. 25 ; and on the left, one from the Apocrypha, 
Wisdom, iii. 5. The chapel of the cemetery, for funeral ceremonies, is plain and 
neat, and receives light by a window in the centre of the roof; it is fifty-six feet in 
length by twenty-eight in breadth, and its elevation is about fifty-six feet. It is sur- 
motmted by a white cross, arid stands at the extremity of the two principal alleys 
leading from the gate. 

In the cemetery there are three kinds of graves. First, the fosses communes, or 
" common trenches," four feet and a half deep, in which the poor are gratuitously 
interred in coffins placed close to each other, without any intervening space, but not 
upon each other. These trenches are reopened every five years, that time being 
considered sufficient for the decomposition of bodies in this clayey soil ; but the 
ground of each grave may be purchased for a term of six years, or for ever, by fam- 
ilies, at the time the trenches are about to be reopened, unless it should happen to 
be in the line of any contemplated road. It is not to be concealed that these im- 
mense common graves are very unpleasant features in the Parisian cemeteries. 
Their existence was forbidden by the law of 1804, which prescribed the depth and 
distance of the separate graves in which all bodies were to be interred. We can- 
not learn whether they continue by connivance, or whether the law has been re- 
pealed. They have, however, in their present form, probably resulted from the 
wish of the proprietors to perform, with the least possible expense, that condition 
for the gratuitous interment of the poor, in consideration of which they were allowed 
to receive the payments of the wealthy. 

The second class of graves are the separate temporary ones, which, upon the 
payment of ten dollars, are held for six years, but then revert to the establishment, 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



29 




30 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

even though monuments should have been erected over them. If, however, indi- 
viduals wish to prolong their lease of the spot, they may do so by paying at the 
rate of ten dollars for every five years ; but if the payments are not duly made, the 
graves are reopened, and the monuments restored to those by whom they were 
erected. It is optional, also, to purchase a perpetual right in the graves which 
were at first bought for only a limited period ; in that case a discount is allowed of 
one of the sums of ten dollars each previously paid for its temporary possession. 

The third sort of graves are those in which the perpetual right is purchased in 
the first instance, when vaults may be sunk and monuments erected at pleasure. 
Not less than six feet six inches is granted for an adult, nor less than half that Ex- 
tent for a child under seven years of age. But families are at liberty to purchase 
as much more as they please ; and hemce many families do possess large spots of 
ground in the cemetery. The price is tvvrenty-five dollars for a square metre (of 
about thirty-nine and one quarter inches), and three dollars for the deed and regis- 
tration'of the sale. When a person desires to purchase ground, he applies to the 
keeper of the cemetery, who accompanies him to select such an unoccupied spot as 
he may please. When a family wishes to construct a vault or tomb for the recep- 
tion of the dead, the corpse is meanwhile deposited in a temporary grave, for the 
use of which, upon its removal, the sum of twenty-five francs is paid ; but this re- 
moval can not take place without the special permission of the prefect of police, 
and in the presence of a commissary of police, who draws up minutes of the trans- 
action. 

The palace of the Tuilleries form;^ one of the principal edifices of Paris. It was 
so called because a tilekiln formerly stood on the site where it is erected. At that 
time, this part of Paris Avas not comprised within the walls ; nothing was to be seen 
in the vicinity of the tilekiln but a few coppices and scattered habitations. The 
construction of this palace was begun in May, 1564. Henry IV. enlarged the 
original building, and, in 1600, began the grand gallery which joins it to the Louvre. 
Louis XIII. made some alterations in the palace ; and, in 1664, Louis XIV. direct- 
ed it to be finished, by making the additions and embellishments which have 
brought it nearly to its present state. These deviations from the first plan have de- 
stroyed the proportions required by the strict rules of art ; nevertheless, the archi- 
tecture, though variously blended, presents, at first sight, an ensemble which is mag- 
nificent and striking. The whole front of the palace consists of five pavilions, con- 
nected by four piles of building, standing on the same line, and extending for the 
space of more than one thousand feet. The first order of the three middle piles is 
Ionic, with encircled columns ; the two adjoining pavilions are also ornamented 
with Ionic columns, but fluted and embellished with foliage, from the third of their 
height to the summit. The second order of these two pavilions is Corinthian. The 
two piles of building which come next, as well as the two pavilions of the wings, 
are of the Composite order, with fluted pillars. 

In the council-chamber of the Tuilleries is a globe, and also a curious clock, that 
shows the time of day in every part of the northern hemisphere. In another room 
is a clock, with emblematical devices, representing Time present and Time past, in 
the way that Young describes him, concealing his wings as he advances, and dis- 
playing them as he flies aAvay, so as to keep his body out of sight. The gardens of 
the Tuilleries are always open to the public, and form the principal promenade of 
this part of the town. A grove of horse-chestnut trees furnishes a fine shade ; and 
a military band performs in the morning from eleven till twelve. Among the deco-. 
rations of the gardens are many fine statues, bronzes, and casts. The statues of 
Hippomenes and Atalanta, and a wild boar, are among the best. In the summer, 
one walk, which runs the Avhole length of the garden, is decorated with a range of 
large orange-trees, in cases, on each side of it. 

The palace in which the chamber of deputies holds its sittings was formerly the 
residence of the princes of the house of Conde, who had adorned its elegant pavil- 
ions, its spacious galleries, its gardens, and its theatre, with every splendor that lux- 
ury could devise, or wealth command. It consequently early fell a prey to the de- 
vastating fury of the revolutionists ; it was then plundered of all its costly furniture, 
and remained unoccupied till the year 1798, when the " council of five hundred" 
took possession of it, and held Avithin its princely walls their republican assemblies. 
It had been adapted for many purposes previous to its present destination. The 
building was originally commenced in 1722, by Louis Franpoise, duchess dowager 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



31 




32 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

of Bourbon, and received various additions till its completion in its present form, in 
1807, when the splendid Grecian peristyle was erected, from the designs of an ar- 
chitect of the name of Poyet. 

It is nearly one hundred feet in breadth, composed of twelve Corinthian columns, 
of elegant proportions, surmounted by a pediment, the tympanum of which is orna- 
mented with statues. The entrance is by twenty-nine steps, at the foot of which, 
upon a pedestal, eighteen feet high, are colossal statues of Justice and Prudence; 
there are also, in front of the building, sitting figures of Sully, L'Hopital, D'Agues- 
seau, and Colbert. This facade cost 1,759,000 francs ($350,000). The interior of 
the hall of assembly is semicircular, the chair of the president, and the desks of the 
secretaries, occupying the base of the semicircle. In front of the desk of the pres- 
ident is the tribune, ornamented with a basso-relievo, representing History and Fame. 
By this arrangement the orator necessarily turns his back upon the president. There 
are also some good statues, among others those of Lycurgus, Solon, Demosthenes, 
Brutus, Cato, and Cicero. Different galleries are set apart for the accommodation 
of the public, the foreign ambassadors, and the peers, and a separate space is re- 
served for the convenience of those connected with the public press. The numer- 
ous apartments and galleries of this very magnificent palace are all fitted up Avith 
great splendor, and commodiously arranged. 

There are numerous public libraries, some of them containing immense collec- 
tions of books and manuscripts. These are open to the public and to men of letters, 
almost the whole year, and present inexhaustible sources of instruction. Most of 
them have a large saloon, well warmed in winter, for the accommodation of visiters. 
The king's library, the foundation of which goes as far back as the reign of Charles 
v., contains nearly 600,000 printed volumes, and 80,000 manuscripts. It is open 
every day, from ten to two ; the vacation commences on the first of September, and 
closes on the fifteenth of October. The city library is open every day from twelve 
to four, except on festivals, and the days of the sittings of the medical and agricul- 
tural societies. It contains 42,000 volumes, among Avhich are many modern works. 
The vacation is from the first of September to the fifteenth of October. The old 
library of St. Genevieve, remarkable for the beauty of its architecture and decora- 
tions, as well as for the choice of books it contains, reckons about 112,000 volumes, 
and 3,000 manuscripts. It is open every day, from ten to two, and its vacation con- 
tinues from the first of September to the twelfth of November. The magazine 
library, at the Institute, is open every day, except from the fifteenth of August to the 
fifteenth of October, and on Thursdays and Sundays. It contains 93,000 volumes, 
and 4,000 manuscripts. The library of the Institutes is not public, but admission is 
easily procured on the recommendation of a member. It contains about 70,000 
volumes. The library of the royal garden, in the museum of natural history, pre- 
sents a rich and varied collection of works relative to the natural sciences, herbaria, 
designs of plants and flowers, and paintings of animals. The library of the raedi- 
';al school contains about 30,000 volumes, including all the best treatises on medicine 
and chymistry. It is open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, from eleven to 
' two, and its vacation is from the fifteenth of August to the first of November. 

The school of medicine is one of the finest establishments in Paris. Its amphi- 
theatre, capable of holding at least 12,000 persons, is adorned with busts of Pey- 
ronie and Martiniere, the founders of the school. In a long gallery are seen skele- 
tons of both sexes, and all ages. There are also many skeletons of animals, for the 
study of comparative anatomy. Opposite to this gallery are specimens of all sorts 
of diseases of the bones, and deformities in their conformation ; a number of injected 
preparations exhibit the systems of the vessels, the blood, the arteries, the veins, 
and the lymphatic organs. In another room are wax figures, illustrative of the ner- 
vous, vascular, sanguineous, and lymphatic systems. There are also representations 
in wax of a great number of pathological cases. Two figures, in particular, surpass 
everything of this kind that has ever been executed ; they exhibit the whole of the 
lymphatic system, external and internal. These masterpieces, as well as several 
others, were executed by the celebrated Lavoisier, of Rouen. A third room contains 
all the natural substances which the three kingdoms of nature furnish to the materia 
medica ; and a fifth is devoted to demonstration of the lectures on medical physics. 

The great museum of the Louvre is the finest collection of works of art in Eu- 
rope, and notwithstanding the losses it has experienced, it contains many master- 
pieces of all the schools. It consists of three principal divisions, the first containing 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 33 

the statues, the second the pictures, and the third the designs. The museum of an- 
tiques is on the ground-floor, that of the drawings on the first floor, and the paintings 
occupy the saloon and the grand gallery that unites the Louvre to the Tuilleries. 
The first three divisions of this gallery are devoted to the productions of the French 
school ; the second three to the G-erman, Flemish, and Dutch schools, and the last 
three to the Italian. Among the works of many other artists, crowds are seen, every 
Sunday, before those of Teniers. The name of David Teniers is common to two 
painters, father and son, the subjects and styles of whose pictures are very similar. 
The younger Teniers, however, is much more distinguished than the elder. 

David Teniers the younger was born at Antwerp, in 1610, and was brought up 
under the professional instructions of his father. Some biographers state that he 
lei't the study of his father for that of Adrian Brauwer, and that he even received 
lessons from Rubens. The elder Teniers was certainly a pupil of Rubens, and there 
is no improbability that the younger may have received instructions from him ; but 
there is no proof that he did. The belief that he received instruction, not only from 
Rubens, but Elsheimer and other masters, is reasonably conjectured to have arisen 
from the wonderful fidelity and success with which, during the earlier portion of his 
professional life, he employed himself in imitating the works of most of the painters 
of his time. He also amused himself by making compositions in the styles of differ- 
ent celebrated painters, as Titian, Tintoretto, the Bassans, Rubens, fee, in which he 
imitated the touch of these great men with such ability, that the imitations, which 
are known by the name of pasticcios, deceived the best judges of his own time, and 
since have frequently been mistaken for originals, and sold as such. They must, 
therefore, have had great merit. However, all the skill which Teniers exhibited in 
this line procured him no better name than the Proteus, or else the ape, of painting; 
although he had certainly acquired considerable reputation in his native town before 
the period commenced in which his original powers were manifested. 

The latter period is said to have been determined in the following remarkable in- 
cident, which we find related in the " Biographie Universelle." Teniers was one 
day in an alehouse of the village of Oyssel, and when he was preparing to depart, 
found he had no money to pay the reckoning. He then bethought himself of paint- 
ing some little piece, and selling it to raise the necessary funds. In ordinary circum- 
stances, he would probably have thought of copying a picture ; but, as there was 
none to copy, he called to him a blind man who was playing on a flute, and made 
him the subject of a picture, which he sold for three ducats to an English traveller, 
who was stopping at the cabaret to change horses. A note appended, in the work we 
have mentioned, to this statement, informs us, that the purchaser was a nobleman, 
who a long time preserved the picture, which the connoisseurs regarded as a mas- 
terpiece of Teniers ; but it was at last stolen, and never again heard of until 1804, 
when it was discovered, with several other compositions of the same artist, by Col- 
onel Dickson, in Persia. 

After this, some other circumstances directed the attention of Teniers to more ori- 
ginal undertakings than those by which he had previously been known, and which 
would never have established his fame on its present basis ; and he appears seldom, 
unless in the way of amusement or indulgence, to have again exercised his old pow- 
ers as a copyist. He became a constant and faithful observer of nature ; the example 
of his father probably influenced him in choosing for his subjects village festivals, 
fairs, and merry-makings. His paintings on these subjects place before us not only 
the grotesque costumes of the villagers of his country, but represent, with much na- 
ture and great justness of expression, the play of their features, their manners, their 
passions, and their individual characters. That he might the more conveniently 
mingle with the scenes he chose to represent, he established himself in the village of 
Perk, between Antwerp and Mechlin ; and there he studied the undisguised impulses 
of natural character among fhe lower classes of the people, and has left many pleas- 
ing and beautiful memorials of occurrences, in themselves uninteresting, or even re- 
pulsive, but rendered engaging by the delightful mode in which they are represented. 

The landscapes of Teniers are not, in general, well chosen ; but they possess, in 
an eminent degree, the merit of local truth, and the talent is astonishing with which 
he has exhibited the ever-varying effects of atmosphere. In this high quality he is 
scarcely surpassed even by Claude Lorraine himself; and it often makes complete 
amends for the flatness and insipidity of his scenery. In the interior of apartments 
the cottage, the cabaret, the guard-room, or the chymist's laboratory, the clearness 

3 



34 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

and precision of Teniers is not less admirable than in his exteriors. He surpassed 
Ostade and many other painters, in the knowledge of perspective of his art. The 
touch of Teniers's pencil was lively, light, and ethereal ; and the tone of his color- 
ing is rich and natural. By continual practice upon the same system, he acquired an 
unexampled promptness in execution. This enabled him to paint a vast number of 
pictures. It was not unusual for him to execute a picture in a single day, and he 
used himself jocosely to observe, that it would require a gallery six miles in length, 
to contain all the pictures he had painted. He was in the habit of assisting the 
landscape-painters of the day by putting figures into their pictures; hence there are 
many such works which owe an increased value to this circumstance. The works 
of Teniers are numerous in the collections of England, Holland, and Germany, and 
still bear very high prices. Sir Joshua Reynolds used to regret that this artist had 
not employed on nobler subjects than he had generally chosen, the elegance and pre- 
cision of his pencil. But this observation does not seem well-founded. It is ques- 
tionable whether he would have attained more than mediocrity in that rank where 
this elegance and precision could not always be a substitute for an innate taste for 
fine forms, and grandeur of style. 

The fine picture, our engraving of which is taken from the " Musee Francais,'' 
possesses the usual characteristics of Teniers's st5-le, and is, therefore, remarkable 
for its soft and harmonious coloring. The general tone is slightly golden ; the sky, 
the earth, the houses in the side view, and even the trees, partake more or 
less of this tint. The principal figure, illuminated by a tranquil light, is 
placed upon a clear depth ; and the writer of the illustrative article in the work we 
have mentioned, dwells with much interest on the openness and serenity the counte- 
nance expresses, and conjectures, rather unnecessarily, we imagine, that it is the 
portrait of a warrior who had disguised himself in this manner lor the purpose of 
examining the enemy's country, and collecting the information necessary for a plan 
of attack. 

The life of Teniers, so far as known, presents fcAV events that claim our notice. 
In private, the mildness of his manners and the regularity of his conduct seem to 
have endeared him to all who were personally acquainted with him. He soon ob- 
tained the favorable notice of the Archduke Leopold, who appointed him his prin- 
cipal painter, and made him one of the gentlemen of his chamber. That eccentric 
woman, Christina, queen of Sweden, made him a present of her portrait, with a 
chain of gold ; and the prince Don John of Austria became his pupil. After an in- 
dustrious, and apparently comfortable life of eighty-four years, Teniers died at Brus- 
sels in the year 1694. 

Adrian Van Ostade is another of the artists whose works attract general notice in 
the Louvre. He was a distinguished painter of the Flemish school, was born at 
Lubeck, in the year 1610, and studied under Francis Hale, in company with Brau- 
wer, with whom he contracted a close intimacy. The reputation which the works 
of Teniers then enjoyed, led him to be ambitious £)f imitating the manner of that 
artist. But he was deterred from the execution of this project by the advice of 
Brauwer, another Flemish painter, who convinced him that he could never attain a 
high place in his art if he devoted himself to the servile imitation of another, how- 
ever eminent. Van Ostade followed this advice, as well as the bent of his own 
mind; for while the subjects of which he made choice were of the same class with 
those of Teniers, he treated them in a manner altogether his own. 

Characteristic traits, some of which strike us at the first glance, distinguish Ostade 
and Teniers. These two masters are equally admirable for the transparency and 
harmony of their works, but the coloring of Teniers is clear, gay, and silvery, and 
his touch firm, light, and bold, while the pencil of Ostade, always rich and soft, is 
sometimes wanting in firmness. 

If we consider design and composition, Teniers places in opposition, and unites 
with skill, numerous groups ; bold and able in giving all the effects of light, he de- 
velops extensive scenes in the open air, and gives them the spirit and life of nature, 
without any of his shadows being ever extravagant, and without even suffering the 
art of his combinations to be apparent. His figures are always correctly drawn, 
their attitudes easy, and even graceful. Ostade, on the contrary, collects his figures 
into places feebly lighted ; generally in the interior of houses, where a partial 
^leam only breaks through the masses of foliage which shade the window. He 
does not always observe the laws of perspective with rigorous accuracy; and the 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



35 




36 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

drawing of his figures is often incorrect. But he charms principally by the spirit 
with which he animates his group-, by a general softness of composition, and by his 
mysterious and striking effects of light. 

But a difference, still more important, distinguishes the works of these two mas- 
ters. Teniers, while he imitates nature, preserves her grace. If he represents rus- 
tic festivals, we recognise in the sports of the peasants, in their joy, in their anger, 
The diversity of their characters. Every condition and every age has its peculiar 
manners. Ostade attaches himself constantly to the representation of humorous 
scenes. Confining the circle of his models, he contents himself Avith choosing from 
the figure and the actions of peasants, whatever nature offers of grotesque and of 
low. He varies his subjects with skill, as well as the expression of his faces ; but 
he never deviates from the burlesque style which he has chosen. Teniers paints the 
manners of the Dutch peasantry, as they were marked by occasional grossness, but 
with a general character of hearty jollity, and of mirth proceeding from content. 
Ostade, a satirist, deforms his personages to render them more droll and ridiculous. 
The director of Ostade's taste, Brauwer, painted in alehouses the companions of his 
debauchery; Ostade, on the contrary, as well as Teniers, was remarkable for the 
decency and the gravity of his manners. 

The coarse natures and the gross enjoyments which Ostade delighted to paint, 
are represented with such truth and excellence, that the most refined taste regards 
his works with satisfaction. He surprises the judgment into such implicit admira- 
tion by the truth of character and energy of effect displayed, that the ground which 
his choice of subjects often affords for censure is forgotten. It is true that his pic- 
tures are not always of a low character ; but Van Ostade did not often attempt any 
other, nor excel when he did. It did not occur to the Dutch painters to do what 
Wilkie has so admirably done — to invest the representations of common life with 
dignity and grace, by associating them with scenes which, though familiar, affect 
the heart; — 

" Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain. 
Which has been, and may be again." 

The works of Ostade are too highly-labored to be very numerous, and hence they 
are now only to be bought at very high prices. His peerdliar talent was so much 
appreciated by the artists of his own time, that many of the most eminent were in 
the habit of soliciting him to put the figures into their landscapes, by which their 
value was greatly increased. He had already acquired considerable reputation, 
when the approach of the French troops in 1662 induced him to withdraw from 
Haarlem, where he had gone to complete his studies. He had sold all his works, 
and intended to return to Lubeck ; but, on his arrival at Amsterdam, an amateur, 
called Constantine Senneport, so forcibly represented to him the advantages which 
an artist possessed in a great city, that he was induced to settle at Amsterdam, and 
remained there until his death, in 1685. 

This picture, from the Musee Francais, of which our engraving is a copy, is par- 
ticularly remarkable for extreme finish. The whole bears the greenish and violet 
tint which was familiar to Ostade ; the coloring is rather monotonous, and the touch 
wants vigor, but the effect of the light is managed with great skill, and the head of 
the principal figure is full of spirit and character. 

Another celebrated picture in the Louvre, is that by Jordaens, " The King 
Drinks." It was originally in the possession of a merchant at Antwerp ; but in the 
year 1783 it was purchased for Louis XVI. The height of the picture is four feet 
nine inches, and its breadth six feet two inches. The spirit of the painting will be 
better understood by the following account of the custom to which it refers, the 
materials of which are chiefly derived from Brand's " Popular Antiquities (Ellis's 
edition), Strutt's "Sports and Pastimes," Brady's " Clavis Calendaria," and the lel- 
ter-press illustration of the engraving in the " "Musee Franpais." The election of a 
mock-monarch to preside over the sports and pastimes of particular seasons is a 
very old practice, which was formerly common on the continent, and of which 
there are still some existing traces. Hence we read of the kings of Christmas, of 
the cockneys, and of the bean, of the May-queen, the lords and abbots of misrule, 
corresponding to the abbot of unreason in Scotland — not to speak of the kings, 
popes, and bishops of fools, on the Continent. Selden, in his " Table Talk," is of 
opinion that these whimsical assumptions of dignity are derived from the ancient 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



37 




38 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Saturnalia, or feasts of Saturn, when the masters waited upon their servants, who 
were honored with mock titles, and permitted to assume the state and deportment 
of their lords. It is indeed remarkable that the twelfth day nearly coincides in the 
time of the year with the Saturnalia ; and Fosbrooke even finds that the king of 
the Saturnalia was elected, like the king of the twelfth night, by a bean. These 
fooleries were so exceedingly popular, that they continued to be practised long after 
the establishment of Christianity, in defiance of the threatenings and remonstrances 
of the clergy, who at last yielded to the stream of popular prejudice, and permitted 
the continuance of the practice; but so altered the primitive object of the institu- 
tion, that the orgies which had marked the festival of a heathen deity became 
changed to Christian commemorations. 

Of these various monarchs, who much resembled each other in their powers and 
functions, the one represented in our engraving seems to be the " king of the bean," 
whose reign commenced upon the vigil of the Epiphany, or upon the day (twelfth 
day) itself. We are informed by Bourne that " it was a common Christmas gambol 
in both our universities, and continued [at the commencement of the last century] 
to be usual in other places to give the name of king or queen to that person whose 
extraordinary good luck it was to hit upon that part of a divided cake which was 
honored above the others by having a bean in it." Strutt, however, is disposed to 
doubt that in early times (for the title is by no means of recent date) the election of 
the monarch depended entirely upon decision of fortune. The words of an old 
Romish calendar seem to countenance a contrary opinion. They are to the follow- 
ing effect, as cited by Mr. Brand in a note to the above passage of Bourne : " On 
the 5th of January, the vigil of the Epiphany, the kings of the bean are created ; 
and on the 6th the feast of the kings shall be held, and also of the queen, and let 
the banqueting be continued for many days." 

As all the various customs of different countries on this day concur in the com- 
mon object of commemorating the visit of the three wise men, or kings, to the 
birthplace of Christ, a king is in some way or other always a conspicuous personage 
in the entertainments which take place. In France, previously to the revolution, 
this mode of celebrating twelfth day prevailed as well at court as among the people 
in general. At the former, one of the nobles was chosen king, and at the enter- 
tainment which followed, the twelfth-day monarch was a,ttended by the king and 
the courtiers. It does not seem that this custom was revived at the restoration of 
the Bourbons, but instead of it the roj^al family washed the feet of some poor peo- 
ple, and bestowed alms upon them. Among the people, the person who obtained 
the slice of cake was king, and reigned throughout the evening. The first act of 
the new monarch was to dub some one of the company the fool of the evening, 
whose business it was to "keep the table in a roar" by his verbal and practical 
jokes. No one drank until the king set the example, for which every one was on 
the watch, and when he placed the cup to his lips, the place was in an uproar with 
huzzas, laughter, and shouts of " The king drinks !" It was doubtless this form of 
the institution, Avhich prevailed equally in France, Belgium, and Germany, that 
Jordaens had particularly in view. Time has somewhat altered the form of the 
institution everywhere. In France, the more respectable families are content with 
giving some of the cake to the domestics; and, in general, there is no election of a 
sovereign, but the mistress of the house presides. 

It seems to have been customary to expect the kmg to bear the expenses cf the 
entertainment. Sir Thomas Urquhart, of Cromarty, in a curious political tract, pub- 
lished soon after the battle of Worcester, in 1651, says, " Verily, I think they make 
use of kings as the French on the Epiphany day use their roy de la fehve, or king 
of the bean ; whom, after they have honored with drinking of his health and shout- 
ing aloud, " Le roy boit ! le roy boit !" they make pay for all the reckoning, not 
leaving him, sometimes, one penny, rather than that the exorbitancy of their de- 
bosh should not be satisfied to the full." So also Misson in his " Travels in Eng- 
land," informs us in a note, that " on twelfth day they divide the cake, alias choose 
king and queen, and the king treats the rest of the company." 

Brand, in his " Popular Antiquities," quotes, in one of his notes, a passage from 
the work of Aubanus, entitled " Mores, Leges, et Ritus omnium Gentium," 1620, 
which seems to give a good general account of the mode of election. He says that 
each family made a cake of flour, honey, ginger, and pepper ; the maker, in the 
kneading, thrust in, at random, a small coin. When it was baked, it was divided 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



39 




40 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

into as many parts as there were persons in the family ; it was di.jtributed, and 
each had his share. Portions of it were also assigned to Christ, the virgm, and the 
three magi, which were given away in alms. Whoever finds the piece of coin in 
his share is saluted by all as king: and being placed on a seat or throne, is thrice 
lifted aloft with joyful acclamations. He holds a piece of chalk in his right hand, 
and each time he is lifted up makes a cross on the ceiling. These crosses were 
thought to prevent many evils, and are much revered. Brand says he did not know 
that the custom was, when he wrote, practised anywhere in the north of England, 
though still very prevalent in the south, where, after tea, a cake is produced, and 
two bowls, containing the fortunate chances for the different sexes. The host fills 
up the tickets, and the whole company, except the king and queen, are to be minis- 
ters of state, maids of honor, and ladies of the bed-chamber. Often the host and 
hostess, more by design, perhaps, than accident, become king and queen. Accord- 
ding to twelfth-day law, each party is to support his character until midnight. 

In the picture before us we seem to recognise the mistress of the family in the 
richly-attired young woman seated at the middle of the table ; the young female near 
her is supposed to be a servant, and all the other persons represented are probably 
of the same rank in life, with the exception of the child. The heads of the two 
young females, the figure of the king, on which the light falls from behind, that of 
the old man by his side, and that of the young man who fills the cup, are all ad- 
mirable in their way. The young man at the bottom of the table is evidently rais- 
ing the shout, " The king drinks !" 

Jacob Jordaens was a distinguished painter of the Flemish school, born at Ant- 
werp, in the year 1594. He was the pupil of Adam Van Oort, whose daughter he 
married at a very early period of life ; but he is considered to have been much in- 
debted to the instructions of Rubens, though it does not appear that he was ever 
regularly admitted to the school of that great painter, Avhose principles were more 
fully worked out by him than by any of the pupils, except Vandyke. Paibens is 
said to have been jealous of him ; but this is always said of the elder of any two 
contemporary painters. However, it is certain that Jordaens ranked very high in 
his profession. He was in constant employment throughout his long life ; and his 
great industry, joined to the facility and expedition with which he worked, enabled 
him to produce a vast number of pictures, and to acquire considerable wealth. 
His compositions are very tasteful and eff'ective ; his style is brilliant and harmo- 
lious, and his designs are eminently characterized by accuracy and truth. He was 
particularly skilful in giving relief and rotundity to his figures ; and from the char- 
acter of their execution, he is presumed to have studied his subjects by candlelight. 
His principal defect is said by some to be occasional grossness of subject and form, 
and a preference of images of low and common life ; but the extent to which this 
can be considered at all as a defect admits of a dispute. He was never in Italy, 
but he is said to have omitted no opportunity of studying the productions of the 
Venitian school, particularly the works of Titian, for which he had a strong prefer- 
'ence. It is stated, indeed, that Jordaens never left his native city, where he died, 
in 1678, at the age of 84 years. 

In the apartment devoted to sculpture, one of the most interesting is the bronze 
statue of the " Boy Extracting a Thorn." It is one of the best preserved among the 
monuments of Grecian art which have descended to our own times. It stood, many 
ages since, in the Roman capitol, and has been the subject of many tales, not only 
without foundation, but which the noble and simple style of the figure prove to be 
erroneously dated. The common people believe it to represent a young shepherd, 
who, during the intestine wars of the middle ages, was sent to observe the enemy, 
and into whose foot a thorn had entered, on his return to Ptome to relate what he 
had seen. But the incontestable antiquity of this fine work would rather incline 
one to believe that it represents a young victor in the races of the Stadium, who ap- 
parently had, in running, met with an accident, but, notwithstanding this disadvan- 
tage, had won the prize. The custom of perpetuating, by the position and action 
of athletic statues, some one of the circumstances attending the victory in such 
races, was early established in Greece. The absolute nakedness of the figure shows 
that this is an athletic statue. Its form, although somewhat slender, unites much 
elegance with the most exact adherance to nature ; it is at once felt that living na- 
ture must have aff"orded the model. The posture of this young man, who is stoop- 
ing, and appears to give all his attention to the extraction of the thorn from his left 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



41 




42 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

foot, which is placed upon his knee, possesses so much of simplicity and grace, as 
to excite the untiring admiration of the spectator. The writer in the " Musee 
Fran9ais," from which this -description, as well as the engraving, is taken, thinks 
that the statue must have been executed during the sixty years which elapsed be- 
tween the period when the athletic statues began to be made in characteristic atti- 
tudes, and the time of Lysippus, when a style more soft and ideal marked the final 
limits of the art. It is probable, however, that he is mistaken in the era thus as- 
signed. 

This statue, which formerly stood in the palace of the capitol at Rome, was ceded 
to France by the treaty of Tolentino. It is two feet five inches in height, and the 
casting is clean and fine. Some defects appear to have been remedied by pieces at- 
tached with much art ; and some holes, occasioned by time, were filled up with 
great care m the sixteenth century. The bronze rock on which the figure is seated 
is entirely ancient, and of the same material with the statue. The eyes are hol- 
low, and were, doubtless, filled up anciently with some other material, probably 
silver. The Greek school very rarely neglected this practice in works of bronze. 

An exhibition of the pictures and sculptures of French living artists takes place 
every two years, in the gallery of the Louvre. The royal museum of the Luxem- 
bourg contains several rooms devoted to the exhibition of the principal pictures of 
living artists, when these pictures become the property of the government. It is 
open on the same days as the Louvre. 

The museum of natural history consists of a botanical garden, with hothouses and 
greenhouses, of several galleries, in which the productions of the three kingdoms 
are methodically arranged, a menagerie of living animals, a library of natural his- 
tory, a cabinet of comparative anatomy, and an amphitheatre, with laboratories, 
for courses of lectures. 

The principal theatres are supported by the government ; among them are the 
grand opera, or Academic Royale de Musique. The richest decorations, an enchant- 
ing ballet, splendid costumes, beautiful scenery, and a powerful orchestra of two 
hundred musicians, are all here united to bewilder the senses. The French heroic 
opera with ballets, the opera seria, and some pantomimic ballets, are represented 
here. The serious French vocalism can never be agreeable to an ear accustomed to 
Italian and German music, especially when it is carried to excess, as is often done in 
this theatre ; but the rhythmical recitative, and the chorusses, are more pleasing. 
On this stage, the operas of Gluck and Sacchini are, as it were, at home ; and no- 
where else in Europe have they been represented in such perfection. The dances 
which accompany the grand operas, and the grand pantomimic ballets which follow 
the opera, excel everything of the kind, except the grand Italian opera in London. 
On no other stage on the continent is the ballet, as a whole, so complete as in the 
Paris grand opera. The beautiful opera-house in the rue Richelieu was closed after 
the assassination of the duke of Berry, in 1820, and finally taken down. The pres- 
ent opera-house in the Chaussee d'Antin was opened in 1821 ; it accommodates two 
thousand persons. 

The Theatre Francais (properly called Premier Theatre Fran^ais), in the rue 
Richelieu, is connected with the Palais Royal. It was first opened in the Hotel 
Bourgogne, in the year 1518. In 1650, Moliere became an actor there. In 1689, 
it was removed to the rue Fosses St. Germain ; in 1770, to the Tuilleries ; in 1782, 
to the Odeon ; and in 1799, when this was burnt, to the present edifice, built by 
Louis. The gallery is supported by twenty-six Doric columns, which form a com- 
plete semicircle around the pit ; and between these columns are the boxes. The 
theatre was erected in 1787-'89, and in 1822 the interior was wholly new-modelled, 
under the direction of Percier and Fontaine. The repertory of this stage consists 
solely of acknowledged masterpieces of French classic literature, ancient and mod- 
ern, both tragedy and genteel comedy. It is very seldom that a young actor ven- 
tures to attempt both these branches, and hence the actors are generally attached to 
one or the other, exclusively. The immortal chef-d^ceuvres of Corneille, Racine, 
Voltaire, Crebillon, and Moliere, are here performed. Genteel comedy seems here, 
to be in its native home. Truth, and nature, and elevated simplicity, conspire to 
make the performances attractive and interesting. The scenery is of the best kind. 

L'Odeon, or Second Theatre Francais, in the suburb St. Germain, near the Lux- 
embourg, was built in 1791, under the superintendence of Peyre and Wailly. It was 
then called the Theatre Franpais, as the first company to which that name had been 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



43 



given, performed in it. In 1799, it was burnt, but was rebuilt and occupied by a sec- 
ond company, set up to rival the first French theatre ; it was then called Theatre de 
I'Odeon. In 1818, it was again burnt, but Avas re-opened in 1819. The same pieces 
are performed as in the Premier Theatre Franpais, and the two stages are engaged 
in a constant competition. The older repertory of the classic French dramatists is 
open to both theatres. A view of this edifice is given in the annexed sketch. 




Theatre de I'Odeon, Paris. 



The Italian opera attracts the first society in the fashionable world of Paris. 
The interior is convenient and beautiful, and the orchestra is considered perfect of 
the kind. The Italian opera is patronised by the government, as a school of vocal 
music, and the managers are careful to maintain a complete and skilful company. 
Next to these principal theatres ccnae the three smaller popular theatres, frequented 
principally by the lower classes — the Theatre du Vaudeville ; the Gymnase Drama- 
tique, and the Theatre des Varietes, both in the Boulevards. These theatres display 
to perfection the exhaustless gayety of the French people, their wit, and disposition 
to make themselves merry at the most trifling occurrence. The small pieces 
performed in these theatres contain no deep-laid plot, and are not accompanied by 
any magnificent decorations. They are written merely for wit, and seem designed 
to increase the natural aptness of the nation to laugh at everything. The lash of 
satire, indeed, is always heard, but applied for amusement, and not to gratify malice. 
The songs which animate the performances are of a popular cast, and are heard in 
every street. Nothing appears in the higher theatres Avhich is not parodied here, 
and the house is frequently entertained with the tricks of harlequin. The Gymnase 
was long the most popular of these three theatres, and its income exceeded that of 
the first Theatre Francais. The Vaudeville is at present on the decline. The 
Theatre de la Porte St. 'Martin, the Theatre de la Gaiete, and the Ambigu Comique, 
in the Boulevards, represent chiefly the melodrama, pantomime, and ballet. The 
two latter are designed principally for the lower ranks. In 1821, the Panorama 
Dramatique was opened. No pieces are represented here in which there are more 
than two performers. In 1817, the Circque Olympique was opened by Franconi, 
where equestrian feats are performed. The Soirees de M. Comte, likewise denomi- 
nated the Theatre de Magie, represents the conjuration of spirits, philosophical ex- 
periments, feats of ventriloquism, &c. 

The Porte St. Denis is a triumphal arch raised by the city of Paris in commemora- 
tion of the two months' campaign of Louis XIV., in 1672, in which short period he 
eflfected the passage of the Rhine, conquered from the Dutch the three provinces of 
Utrecht, Overyssel, and Guelders, together with above forty cities and towns, laying 
Holland prostrate and helpless at his feet. This war, as brilliant as it was unjust 
and fruitless in its results, was carried on in conjunction with the profligate English 
monarch, Charles II., who joined it for no better reason than that by so doing he 
might continue his shameless and disgraceful career of vice, having entered into a 
secret treaty, by which he was to receive from the French king the sum of £200,000 
per annum for his co-operation. In this flagrant violation of justice, indeed, so false 
and frivolous were the reasons employed to justify his attack upon Holland, that one 
of the chief pretexts for it was the legend upon a medal, in which she boasted of 
having " secured the laws, purified religion, succored, defended, and reconciled the 
monarchs, asserted the freedom of the seas by the strength of her arms, made a glo- 



44 • SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

rious peace, and established the tranquillity of Europe ;" which was, perhaps, not 
boasting of much more than she had really done ; yet, upon the complaint of Louis, 
and to appease his pride, the die was broken ; but his thirsi for revenge and conquest 
was not so easily removed. Voltaire observes that " it is singular that not one of the 
enemies who were ready to overwhelm this little state, had any reasonable cause or 
pretext for their aggression," and compares it to the iniquitous triple alliance, known 
as the league of Cambray, against the liberties and existence of the republic of 
Venice. 

Upon Louis crossing the Rhine, a panic appears to have seized upon the whole 
population. City after city surrendered to his arms without striking a blow, and 
Amsterdam would have fallen into his power, had not the sluices been broken, and, 
by letting in the waters, overflowed the surrounding country, which became the 
means of saving the city, and eventually the country. Had the capital been taken, 
the republic would have perished. AVe quote from Voltaire : "The richest fami- 
lies, and those which were most zealous for liberty, prepared to flee into the farthest 
part of the world, and embark for Batavia. They took a list of all the vessels 
capable of making the voyage, and made a calculation of the numbers they could 
embark. It was found that fifty thousamd families could take refuge in their new- 
country. Holland would no more have existed, but at the extremity of the East 
Indies. Its provinces in Europe, which purchase their corn only with the riches of 
Asia, which subsist only by their commerce, and, if the expression may be used, by 
their liberty, would have been ruined and depopulated. Amsterdam, the mart and 
magazine of Europe, Avhere commerce and the arts are cultivated by two hundred 
thousand men, would soon have become a vast morass. All the neighboring lands 
require immense expenses, and thousands of hands to keep up their dykes. In all 
probability their inhabitants would have left them, with their riches, and they would 
have been at last sunk under water, leaving to Louis XIV., only the miserable glory 
of having destroyed the finest and most extraordinary monument ever erected by hu- 
man industry." 

It was in this fearful situation that the Dutch sued for peace, and implored the 
clemency of the victor ; but they were received with insulting haughtiness, and in- 
tolerable conditions prescribed. The terror of the people was changed into despair, 
and despair revived their drooping courage. Louis, finding a spirit of resistance 
arising, difficulties increasing, and that he could do nothing more in a country almost 
submerged, the dikes having been broken, left his army, and returned to Paris to 
enjoy the flattery and adulation of his court and of the people of his capital, who 
erected the vain trophy of the Porte St. Denis, to eternize conquests that were aban- 
doned before the proud monument was finished. 

This edifice is built on the site of the ancient Porte St. Denis, erected by Charles 
IX., and was designed by Blondel. Its beauty of proportion and execution renders 
it a very conspicuous ornament of the French metropolis. It rises from a base of 
seventy-two feet to a height of seventy-three feet, the principal arch being twenty- 
five feet wide and forty-three feet high. Two smaller openings on each side, five 
feet in width by ten feet in height, are rather defects in the structure, not originally 
mtended by the architect. Over these entrances are pyramids in bas-relief, which 
rise to the height of the entablature, and are ornamented with sculpture. The bas- 
reliefs over the arch represent, the one the passage of the Rhine, and the other the 
taking of Maestricht. In the spandrels of the arch are figures of Fame and Victory, 
and on the frieze, in bronze letters, is the inscription Ludovico Magno. 

Another edifice of a similar character is the triumphal arch of the barrier of 
Neuilly. This great national monument and work of art was opened to public view 
during the celebration of the Revolution of 1830. Every part of the design is com- 
pleted, with the exception of the figures and emblems which are to crown the 
pediment. 

The triumphal arch erected in honor of the emperor Constantine, at Rome, was 
sixty-eight feet high ; that of Septimus Severus sixty feet; and the fine arch in the 
department of Vaucluse, in the south of France, in honor of Caius Marius, was 
seventy-four feet high. The Porte St. Denis, at Paris, is perhaps the most remarka- 
ble work of this kind erected in modern times, with the exception of the one just 
completed. It was undertaken by direction of Louis XIV., and this vain monarch 
gave orders that its dimensions should exceed any similar work. Its height is sev- 
enty-seven feet, and breadth seventy-seven feet. The Arc de Triomphe de I'Etoile was 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



45 




46 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

designed by the emperor Napoleon to commemorate the glory of the French armies, 
and the first stone was laid on the fifteenth of August, 1806, being the emperor's 
birthday. Its dimensions are more than twice as large as those of Constantine's 
arch or the Porte St. Denis, and are as follows: height, 161 feet ; breadth, 146 feet; 
thickness, 72 feet ; height of the grand archway 67 feet, breadth 47 feet ; height of 
the lateral arches 60 feet, breadth 27 feet. The depth of the foundations is 27 feet ; 
and the arc is 179 feet long by 79 feet wide. 

The front represented in the engraving faces the palace of the Tuilleries, and the 
approach from the palace is by the principal avenue in the gardens, through the 
Place Louis Quinze, and thence by the avenue of the Champs Elysees, There is a 
gradual rise of the ground for some distance before arriving at the barrier of Neuilly, 
and the arch is placed on a circular space at the summit. It forms one of the most 
commanding objects from various parts of the environs of Paris. 

On each of the two principal fronts there are two groups of sculpture. The first 
represents the departure for the armies in 1792, when France was menaced on all 
her frontiers, and by a solemn decree of the national convention the country was 
declared in danger. The Genius of War is represented pointing with a sword to 
where the enemies of the country ought to be met and overcome. A commander 
waves his helmet to invite the citizen-soldiers to follow him, and he is eagerly joined 
by a young man. A little to the right of the spectator a man advancing into years 
has already drawn his sword, thrown aside his mantle, and is prepared to march; 
and behind him an old man, who can no longer combat foi his country, offers his 
counsel to the commander. To the left, a warrior seated draws his bow, and behind 
him is another in a coat-of-mail, who sounds a trumpet; and at the back of this last 
figure is a young man on horseback. The whole group is surmounted by the na- 
tional flag. 

The triumph of the French arms, at the period when the empire appeared to be 
most firmly consolidated in 1810, is also represented on the side of the arqh nearest 
the Tuilleries. The emperor is crowned by Victory ; Fame publishes his deeds, 
and History records them. Citizens of vanquished towns approach to make their 
submission, and on a palm-tree there are suspended trophies of arms taken from 
the enemy. The group is completed by a prisoner in chains. 

The resistance made to the approach of the allies, in 1814, is the subject of the 
group on the right. A young soldier defends his invaded country ; -on one side his 
father, who is wounded, embraces him, and on the other, his wife, with a child 
which has been killed in her arms, vainly endeavors to stop him. Behind, a horse- 
man, mortally wounded,- falls from his horse ; above this group, the Genius of the 
Future encourages the young man to resistance. 

The other group on the Neuilly side is an allusion to the peace of 1815. A war- 
rior sheathes his sword in the scabbard ; on his left a woman caresses an infant on 
her lap ; another child, who is reading, leans upon her. To the right is a man oc- 
cupied with a ploughshare, surrounded by corn ; behind him, " wra soldat laboureur," 
returned to his hearth from the wars, subdues an ox which he wishes to put to the 
plough. 

These four groups are desiernated as follows: Le Depart (1792) ; Le Triomphe 
(1810) ; La Resistance (1814)^ La Paix (1815). 

There are two bas-reliefs on each of the principal fronts, and one on each of the 
sides. They represent the death of General Marceau, on the 19th of September, 
1796. He was wounded so severely on the field of battle, that he fell into the hands 
of the Austrians. The Archduke Charles paid him the greatest attention, but he 
expired soon after he had received his wound, and the Austrian army showed the 
highest respect to his remains, which were interred, accompanied by the usual mil- 
itary honors, in which both the Austrians and French took part. The other bas- 
reliefs represent the battle of Aboukir, July 24th, 1799 ; the passage of the bridge 
of Arcole in Italy, on November 5th, 1796 ; the taking of Alexandria, in Egypt, 
July 2d, 1798 ; the battle of Austerlitz, December 4th, 1805 ; the battle of Jemappe, 
November 6th, 1792. 

The frieze of the grand entablature, on the front shown in the engraving, and the 
half of each of the sides, represents the departure for the armies. In the centre the 
representatives of the people, before the altar of the country, distribute the flags to 
the commanders of the difl'erent corps of the armies of the north and south. To 
the right and left, extending to one half of each side, the troops are in full march. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 47 

On the Neuilly front, and the remainder of the sides, is represented the return of the 
armies. France, regenerated, accompanied by Prosperity and Plenty, distributes 
wreaths to the chiefs ; and on the right and left the troops defile, bringing with them 
the works of art. 

The shields contain a list of thirty victories which are supposed to have had the 
most important influence on the affairs of France. They are: Valmy, Jemappe, 
Fleurus, Montenotte, Lodi, Castiglione, Arcole, Rivoli, Pyramids, Aboukir, Alcmaer, 
Zurich, Heliopolis, Marengo, Hohenlinden, Ulm, Austerlitz, Jena, Friedland, Somo- 
sierra, Esling, Wagrara, La Moskwa, Lutzen, Bautzen, Dresden, Hanau, Mont- 
mirail, Montereau, Ligny. 

The tympans of the lateral arches contain the figures of a grenadier, a light horse- 
man, a heavy dragoon, a horse'and foot artillerymaa, a sailor, and a marine. 

In the exterior decoration of the arch, there could only be appropriated a space 
capable of containing the names of thirty battles. The ulterior of the grand arch, 
as well as the smaller arches, is inscribed with other actions to the number of ninety- 
six, in Avhich the French arms were not less distinguished. Under the heads of 
north, east, south, and west, follow the names of twenty-four actions which took 
place in each quarter. 

To the list of military combats are added the names of the commanders-in-chief, 
marshals, and generals, who contributed to their celebrity. The list includes those 
of several generals-of-brigade, and colonels, who perished in the field. It has been 
necessary to confine this list to the superior grades of the army, but it contains three 
hundred and eighty-four names, and includes some Polish, German, Italian, and 
Spanish officers, who fought in the ranks of the French army. These three hundred 
and eighty-four names are divided in four groups of six columns each. Beneath 
them are the names of the armies which France sent to the different theatres of war, 
and a list of them shows the prodigious efforts Avhich Avere required to sustain the 
system of Napoleon. On the north occur the names of tjie armies whose operations 
took place in that quarter, namely, the armies of the north, of Ardennes, of the Mo- 
selle, of the Rhine, of the Sambre and the Meuse, of Holland, of Hanover. On the 
east, the armies of the Danube, of Helvetia, of the Orisons, of the Var, of Italy, of 
Rome, of Naples. On the south, the armies of Dalmatia, of Egypt, of Spain, of 
Portugal, of Andalusia, of Aragon, of Catalonia, of the South. And on the west 
occur the gwmies of the eastern Pyrenees, of the western Pyrenees, of the West, of 
the Camp of Boulogne, of the Army of Reserve, and the Grand Army. Above each 
of the four tables of the names of distinguished officers is a bas-relief, representing 
military devices. 

The cost of the triumphal arch has been rather more than $200,000, which has 
been contributed in nearly equal proportions under the empire, the Restoration, and 
since the commencement of the reign of Louis Philippe. It has sometimes been 
said, that the French, while embellishing their towns, and particularly the capital, 
have neglected works which contribute to domestic and personal comfort. Improve- 
ments, however, are going forward, which prove that indifference toward the latter 
objects no longer exists, and that, Avhile the love of art has not diminished, great ex- 
ertions have been making at the same time in matters which really contribute to 
utility and convenience. 

The establishment called the " Morgue," was instituted in 1804, and is destined 
to receive the dead bodies of such individuals as have fallen victims to accident or 
assassination, or have been induced, by despair, to put an end to their oAvn lives; 
they are publicly exhibited, that they may be recognised by their relatives or friends. 
This receptacle for the unknoAAai dead found in Paris and the faubourgs of the city, 
contributes not a little to the forAvarding of the laedical sciences, by the vast number 
of bodies it furnishes, which, on an average, amount to about tAVO hundred annually. 
The process of decomposition in the human body may be seen at La Morgue, 
throughout every stage to solution, by those Avhose taste, or pursuit of science, leads 
them to that melancholy exhibition. Medical men frequently visit the place, not 
out of mere curiosity, but for the purpose of medical observation, for wounds, frac- 
tures, and injuries of every description occasionally present themselves, as the effect 
of accident or murder. Scarcely a day passes Avithout the arrival of fresh bodies, 
chiefly found in the Seine, and very probably murdered, by being flung either out of 
the windows which overhang the Seine river, or off the bridges, or out of the wine 
and wood-barges, by which the men who sell the cargoes generally return with 



48 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

money in their pockets, and it is well known that many suffer in this way, whose 
home, being at a distance from Paris, those bodies, when found, are not seen by 
their friends, and there fall into the dissecting-room. The clothes of the dead bodies 
brought into this establishment are hung up, and the corpse is exposed in a public 
room for the inspection of those who visit the place for the purpose of searching for 
a lost friend or relative. Should it not be recognised in four days, it is publicly dis- 
sected, and then buried. 



CHAPTER n.— FRANCE. 

Water is one of the most essential necessaries of life ; and together with an 
ample or insufficient supply of food, enables population to add to its numbers, 
or compresses them within certain bounds. If the supply be scanty, or the 
quality unwholesome, and the evil can not be remedied by artificial means, it is 
plain that the existence of a large or thriving community is impossible. None but 
those whose poverty fixes them to a certain spot will reside there ; and if there should 
be the opportunity of acquiring property from the exercise of some local industry, 
those individuals who are sufficiently fortunate to do so, when they have become mas- 
ters of their own movements, will be under the strongest temptation to choose their 
residence elsewhere. Such a district will never be selected by those who can fix 
their .habitation where they please ; and it is therefore left to its poverty. A town 
thus situated may obtain a supply of water by means of aqueducts, canals, cisterns, 
reservoirs, hydraulic machines, &:c. ; and this triumph over the defects of situation 
places the inhabitants in circumstances favorable to their prosperity, and manufac- 
tures and arts may flourish, which could never have been pursued, but for an abun- 
dant supply of this necessary element. 

Paris, though now Avell supplied with water, in former times often experienced 
the effects of scarcity, owing to the indifference of the authorities to the public 
wants, the concessions made to individuals and religious communities, and the de- 
fective nature of the hydraulic power employed in drawing the supply from its 
sources. Under the E,oman domination, Paris obtained a supply of water by an 
aqueduct about five miles in length, which terminated at Arcueil. During the pe- 
riod which preceded the re-establishment of order and security, the Normans rav- 
aged the country, and this aqueduct was either destroyed or became dilapidated. 
Henry IV. resolved upon re-establishing the Roman aqueduct; and in 1613 the 
first stone of the work was laid by Louis XIII. and his queen. It was found that, 
owing to a part of the aqueduct being carried over quarries of calcareous stone, the 
water percolated through the strata, and the fountains which it supplied became 
nearly dry. In 1777, the necessary repairs were completed at an enormous expense. 
The other sources of supply are the Seine, the Ourcq, and the springs of St. Ger- 
vais, Belleville, and Menilmontant. The aqueduct of Belleville was constructed in 
the reign of Philip Augustus, and was repaired by Henry IV. The aqueduct of St. 
Gervais, or Romainville, conveys the waters of Romainville and the neighboring 
heights into a reservoir, whence it is conducted by leaden pipes to Paris. Besides 
these aqueducts, there are a number of hydraulic machines, the principal ones be- 
ing those of the Pont Notre Dame, of Chaillot, and of Gros Caillou, 

Under the reign of Philip Augustus, Paris only contained three fountains. Be- 
tween his reign and that of Louis XIV. thirteen others were constructed, and during 
the reign of Louis XIV. the additions were much more numerous. From 1804 to 
1812, the palmy period of the empire, the number of fountains erected was sev- 
enteen. The number of fountains is now about seventy; and there are above one 
hundred and thirty homes fontaines, or orifices, in the public streets, from which 
the water issues. 

In 1608 an hydraulic machine, constructed by a Fleming, was fixed near the Pont 
Neuf, and in 1671 a similar machine was placed contiguous to the Pont Notre Dame. 
These machines were frequently out of order, and the greatest inconvenience was 
occasioned by the want of water. In 1769 the Chevalier d'Auxiron made a propo- 
sal for erecting steam engines in certain positions, which would obviate the defects 
of the old machines ; but no active steps were taken until 1778, when a company, 
authorized by letters-patent, commenced its labors. The engine at Chaillot, which 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



<19 




£ w ■• JTff ' < ■ to li V 










Fountain in the Place du Chatelet. 



50 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

they caused to be fixed, was the first of the kind worked in France ; this machine 
was put in motion in 1782. In 178S four fifths of the company's shares had been 
sold on the stock exchange for government securities; and the executive being in 
possession of nearly the whole property, the engines and the establishment of the 
proprietors passed into its hands. The supply of water has been vested in the gov- 
ernment ever since. 

A want of practical talent was exhibited by the French more frequently in the 
period preceding the revolution than since that change. During the reign of Louis 
XIV. splendid fountains were constructed ; but when completed they benefited no- 
body, as the water for supplying them was not to be obtained, and they stood as if 
in mockery of the wants of the people. The same course was pursued in ine suc- 
ceeding reign. The machines for raising water were inefficient, and the scarcity 
was great. Privileged individuals and religious establishments were abundantly 
supplied, but the inhabitants generally could not obtain a sufficient quantity. 
When complaints were _made which could not be silenced, the authorities attacked 
the privileges which had been granted to individuals, or they ordered new fountains 
to be erected. The fine fountain of Grenelie, finished in 1739, was the result of one 
of these eff'orts to satisfy the public ; but for some years it gave no supply, and 
hence it was generally called "La Trompeuse." It was not until the power of 
steam was applied to raise water that this fountain fulfilled the purpose of its con- 
struction. Under Louis XVI. the municipal authorities willingly undertook to erect 
fountains, but no plan of suppl3^ing them was seriously taken into consideration. 
Dulaure remarks, in his " Histoire de Paris," that " they wished to show that they 
had abundant resources, while at the same time they were attacked on all sides on 
account of scarcity ; they were poor, and they wished to show themselves magnifi- 
cent." 

In 1799 proposals Avere made for bringing the waters of the Ourcq to Paris, but 
the plan was not considered feasible. In 1802, however, the government gave di- 
rections for undertaking the work, the expense of which was to be defrayed out of 
the receipts at the barriers on diff'erent articles of consumption. Various circum- 
stances occasioned delays, and in 1814 a complete suspension of the works took 
place, but they were completed uiider the restoration. The waters of the Ourcq 
are conveyed by a canal, which is navigable, into a large basin within the barriers, 
whence the houses, manufactories, and fountains, obtain an abundant supply. The 
canal is about twenty-five miles in length, and, by avoiding the windings of the 
Seine, greatly facilitates the conveyance of goods. 

Few houses are supplied with water by pipes which convey it at once into the 
apartments. Hence a description of industry has sprung up which is unknown in 
this country, where water is bi-ought into the houses by pipes. In Paris it is sold by 
a distinct class of men, who carry it from house to house and from family to family. 
The price is one sous for each pail. The nutnber of " porteurs d'eau," having casks 
on wheels, exceed one thousand four hundred ; and those who carry it with yokes 
are still more numerous. It is calculated that about nine hundred thousand dollars 
a year are paid to the water-carriers. Besides the water obtained from the foun- 
tains there is a company, or companies, for supplying filtered water. The water- 
carriers are an industrious class of men, of simple habits, and very economical, for 
which they have an object sufficient to deter tliem from dissipation or ill-judged ex- 
penses. They indulge the hope of some day being enabled to possess a slip of 
land in their native department. The wife often assists in the labor of drawing the 
casks, which are placed on wheels, and is not less an advocate of every plan which 
can insure the completion of their hopes. 

Our engraving opposite represents a fountain which, although long designed, has 
never yet been erected — the famous "Fountain of the Elephant." This was one of 
Napoleon's many projects for the embellishment of the capital of France. The 
" Fountain of the Elephant" was to have been erected in the centre of the oblong 
rectangular space which now occupies the site of the bastile, between the canal of 
St. Martin and the arsenal. It was one, and might be considered, indeed, the 
crowning one, of many improvements, which would almost have rendered this the 
most superb quarter of Paris. The decree for the erection of the fountain was 
dated on the 9th of February, 1810, and it named the 2d of December, 1811, as the 
day on which the structure should be completed. The foundation, accordingly, 
■was laid in the course of the year 1810 ; but to the present day nothing further has 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



51 







Design for the rountain of the Elephant. 



52 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

been done in the execution of the magnificent design. The model, however, in 
plaster-of-Paris, still exists ; and even from that it may be felt how fine the effect 
of the intended erection would have been. This model is kept in a large shed, 
where it was originally put up, close by the proposed site of the fountain. It is to 
be seen upon proper application ; and its enormous dimensions and fine proportions 
abundantly repay the curiosity of the visiter. 

Upon the massive pedestal of stone was to have been placed a colossal elephant 
in bronze, surmounted by a tower, as seen in the engraving, the whole forming a 
figure of about eighty feet in height. A staircase leading up to the tower was to 
have been concealed in one of the legs of the figure, each of which was to have 
been six feet and a half in thickness. The fountain was to have been adorned with 
twenty-four bas-reliefs in marble, representing the arts and sciences. 

The foundation and model of this unexecuted conception remain as memorials of 
how sometimes 

" Vaulting ambition doth o'erleap itself." 

The bronze for the enormous elephant was to have been obtained from the cannons 
captured by the imperial armies in Spain, in that contest, then only in its first stage, 
the course and issue of which some time after contributed so materially to hurl 
from his throne the proud military chief who thus so arrogantly anticipated con- 
quest while on the eve of discomfiture and destruction. 

The Palais Royal, with its gardens, its courts, its galleries, and arcades, is the 
central point of pleasiire in Paris. It was built in 1663, by Cardinal Richelieu, who 
gave it the name of the Palais Cardinal. He bequeathed it to Louis XIIL, after 
whose death Anne of Austria entered it with her infant son, Louis XIV., quitting 
the Louvre, where she had previously resided. From that time it has borne the 
name of Palais Royal. Louis XIV. resigned the occupation of it to his brother, 
and at last gave it to his grandson, the duke of Chartres. Since then it has remained 
in the family of Orleans, which made it their abode until 1791, and returned thither 
in 1816. Frenchmen who remember it as it was in the last century, speak with 
rapture of the great avenue of chestnut-trees, which formerly extended the whole 
length of the garden. From eleven o'clock in the morning it was crowded with 
people ; there were seats on each side, which were always filled with men of all 
ranks and all countries. In the centre was a tree — the celebrated arbre de Cracovie : 
under its shade the politicians decided the fate of the world. This was ever the 
most liberal spot in Paris. The trees were afterward superseded by rows of book- 
sellers' and jewellers' shops, gambling-houses, coffeehouses, theatres, and other estab- 
lishments of the kind. This assemblage brought a rich revenue to the duke. The 
walkers avenge themselves with jokes for the loss of their beautiful trees : they 
called the duke the egorgeur des ombres. In three years two of the great wings 
were finished, the arcades of which were immediately crowded Avith splendid shops. 
New rows of trees were planted, but they did not flourish, probably on account of 
the dust raised by the crowd which perpetually throngs the garden. The Theatre 
Francais was also placed in the Palais Royal, and yet remains there. During the 
revolution, the duke called this palace the Palais Egalite. In 1802, it had, for a 
short time, the name of Palais du Tribunal. 

The principal entrance to the Palais Royal is upon the Ptue St. Honore. The 
front is seen from the Chateau d'Eau — a building containing the reservoirs of water 
for the Tuilleries and the Palais Royal. The two front wings, with Ionic and Doric 
pillars (each of which is adorned with a pediment and statues by Pajou), are joined 
together by a Doric portico. Three gates form the entrances to the palace. Upon 
entering the first court, the two wings of the buildings here appear adorned with 
Ionic and Doric pillars. Between them is the outer court, which leads from the 
first court into the second (La Cour Royale). Massive Doric pillars arise on each 
side, but their eflFect is destroyed by the number of booths and shops which are 
crowded together about thein. The second court is separated from the garden by 
wooden galleries, and there the booksellers and pamphlet-sellers, the milliners and 
riband-venders, exhibit the articles in which they deal. Through this galerie de 
hois one enters the fairy-land of the garden, surrounded by its splendid arcades. 
This garden has no shade ; it is stiff and dry ; the ground is hard-pounded gravel ; 
the trees are small and quickly withered, being struck by the reflected rays of the 
sun. But the effect of the arcades and pavilions, especially in the evening, when 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 53 

they are brilliaatly illuminated, is truly splendid. The two side-wings have a 
length of seven hundred feet, and the opposite ones a length of three hundred. 
They are all of a similar form. Fluted pilasters of the composite order, surround 
the building, and support a balustrade, upon which are vases, which cover its 
whole length. On the level ground, a vaulted gallery surrounds the ground, with 
one hundred and eighty arcades, between every two of which is suspended a large 
lamp. They terminate, on both sides, in two vestibules, adorned with magnificent 
columns. The intervals are ornamented with festoons and bas-reliefs. Over the 
arcades is the first story, with high windows, proportionate to the building ; above 
this, the second story, with lower windows ; and above this, the windows in the 
roof, before which runs the terrace. Here gratifications are held out to every ap- 
petite and desire. The book- shops aflford the oldest and the newest, the most sci- 
entific and the most frivolous books. Celebrated and unknown writers here meet, 
and the place swarms with critics and amateurs of literature. A splendid jewel- 
ler's shop, which fills three arcades, is, in the evening, lighted up by more than fifty 
wax-lights, and large mirrors increase the light and the play of colors. The ele- 
gant shops of the milliners afl'ord all that fancy can create with riband and gauze, 
with flowers and feathers. One lofty arch glitters with brilliant silk stuff's ; anoth- 
er with the finest cloths, the richest Eastern shawls, or the most delicate embroi- 
dery. Shops with watches of every kind alternate with others with beautiful por- 
celain ; here are ornaments of wedgewood ware and of diamonds ; there are gold 
watch-chains, sword-hilts of polished steel and silver ; here are exhaled the most 
delicious perfumes ; there beautiful miniature pictures or splendid engravings attract 
the eye ; bonbons and mathematical instruments, playthings and arms, are exhib- 
ted in great variety ; in one place we meet with a shop which contains every ar- 
ticle of dress, made 'in the most exquisite taste; in another, with luxurious furni- 
ture. Lottery-ticket sellers and money-changers, seal-engravers and pastry-cooks, 
restaurateurs and fruit- venders, are all crowded together. 

The choicest delicacies, from the sea and from the provinces, are collected in the 
celebrated Boutique au Grourmand, while the best ice is to be found in the Cafe 
de Foi, where assembles the most select company. In the Cafe des Aveugles is 
heard the gayest music, executed by blind persons, while loud cries and reckless 
gayety resound from the Cafe du Caveau and the Cafe du Sauvage. The Cafe du 
Ventriloque attracts many guests, to witness the performances of its proprietor; 
and the Cafe des Mille Colonnes, to view its thousand brilliant mirrors. All the ar- 
ticles for sale in the Palais Royal are dearer, by one half, than in the rest of Paris. 
Everything here appears intended for the gratification of the senses ; nothing spir- 
itual, pure, or natural, finds a congenial atmosphere, and the uncorrupted stranger 
soon wishes himself away from this intoxicating labyrinth. But the upper halls 
are still more seducing and dangerous than the galleries. Here, in the first story, 
between the rich shops and the brilliant halls of the restaurateurs, are the infamous 
gambling-rooms, where, at the green tables, roulette, and rouge et noir, stand ready 
for their victims. In the attics live the shop-keepers, Avhose places of business are 
below. At every hour of the day, men are to be found walking in the Palais Royal. 
Early in the morning, the industrious tradesman passes through it to breathe the 
fresh air before he goes to his labor. The inhabitants are yet plunged in sleep. 
At eight o'clock the shops are opened, and at nine the coff'eehouses begin to fill ; 
the newspaper-readers assemble, and the groups collect. From twelve to two, it is 
the rendezvous of the gay world. The benches are insufficient ; hundreds of straw- 
bottomed chairs, which are piled up under the trees, are brought forward, and let 
for two sous each. From two to five the crowd diminishes, but the nursery-maids 
and mothers, with their little children, employ this interval ; soon, all those who 
frequent the theatre pass by in crowds. About eight o'clock in the evening a bril- 
liant illumination begins, and the hours, until eleven, are noisy and variously em- 
ployed. After eleven the noise gradually ceases, and at twelve the gardens are 
empty, and everything is still. The walks are watered three times a day, so that 
the dust is not troublesome. A pleasant coolness is preserved by a large fountain, 
in the middle of the garden, with a jet d'eau in twenty-four streams. From the 
gardens the visiter can also pass, through a second gallery, into the court, where 
the most beautiful flowers and foreign plants are to be had. Another entrance leads, 
by an open staircase, into the splendid Rue Vivienne. The Palais Royal is the 



54 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

richest and most faithful picture of the frivolity and luxury, as well as of the sensu 
ality and corruption, of modern times. 

The town-hall was commenced in the year 1533 ; it is in the Grothic style ol 
architecture, and very regular and harmonious in its proportions. Over the princi 
pal entrance is an equestrian statue, in bronze, on a pedestal of black marble, of 
Henry IV. This edifice has been the theatre of many remarkable political events 
The Mint is situated on the banks of the Seine, almost in the centre of Paris. Tht 
first stone was laid by the comptroller-general of the finances in 1771. The princi 
pal building is surmounted with an attic, on which is a group of allegorical figures. 

Paris is not a vast entrepot for the commerce of the world. Its inland position 
precludes this; but the mere daily consumption of a large metropolis occasions 
every day extensive transactions in home, foreign, and colonial productions. A con- 
centrated population, exceeding eight hundred thousand, an immense number of 
whom are engaged in manufactures of various kinds, which are in demand all over 
the globe, stimulates commercial activity, and enlarges the scale of traffic. The ex- 
penses of the state amount to upward of $225,000,000 per annum ; and receipts to 
the same amount are continually in the course of payment into the coffers of the 
public treasury. The national debt exceeds $1,500,000,000 ; so that Paris is the 
centre of great financial operations, and in this respect is second only to London. 
The only place authorized by the government for the general meeting of capitalists 
and merchants, for the transaction of business, is the Bourse. The funded system 
is the growth of modern times, and there are few buildings appropriated to this pur- 
pose which were erected before the seventeenth century. The exchange at Am- 
sterdam was begun in 1608 ; and the royal exchange of London was built at the ex- 
pense of Sir Thomas Gresham, after the great fire of 1666. They are to the large 
commercial transactions of the present day that which the market-cross was at an 
earlier period. * 

At the time when the Mississippi scheme of Law gave rise, in France, to the most 
extraordinary mania which the thirst of riches ever occasioned, the transactions 
took place in the open air, in the Rue Quincampoix, a street chiefly occupied by 
bankers and money-dealers. A royal road to wealth appeared to have been at- 
tained, but it led only to the most disastrous public and private calamities. In 1724, 
the exchange of Paris was first established in the Hotel Mazarin. It was not until 
the Emperor Napoleon directed his attention to the embellishment of the capita! 
that it was resolved to erect a building to be specially devoted to the meetings of 
persons engaged in transactions relating to the public securities and to commerce. 
The first stone of the present edifice was laid March 24th, 1808 ; but it was eighteen 
years before it was completed, the work having been suspended in consequence of 
political events. The form of the Bourse is a parallelogram, that is, having a 
square form, the sides of which are longer than the ends. The fronts of the 
Bourse are one hundred and sixty-four feet in breadth, and the length of the sides is 
two hundred and fifty-six feet ; and it is surrounded by sixty-four Corinthian columns. 
Each front is supported by fourteen columns, and each side by twenty — reckoning 
the pillars at the angles twice over. They are elevated on a basement of about 
eight feet in height, and in height are thirty-two feet. The colonnades are acces- 
sible to the public during the hours of business. The elevation terminates by a sim- 
ple entablature. The roof is made of copper and iron. It is confessed that the 
Bourse has scarcely the air of an edifice devoted to commerce. It was erected 
during the most prosperous days of the empire ; and the intention of the architect 
was to give to his design an imposing grandeur, and to produce a general effect, 
rather than to excite an appropriate idea of the objects of the building. The con- 
venience of the apartments for the use of the commercial authorities has, perhaps, 
been slightly sacrificed ; but undoubtedly the Bourse is one of the finest structures 
of which Paris can boast. 

The hall in which the business in the funds is transacted is one hundred and four 
feet in length, and fifty-nine feet broad, and will hold two thousand persons. The 
floor is paved with marble : and at the upper end is a space, surrounded by a circu- 
lar railing, termed the parquet, which is the place where the agens de change, or 
stock-brokers, assemble, who alone have the power of negotiating the public secu- 
rities. An arcade on each side of the hall is used as a " walk" by merchants and 
ship-owners. A gallery of ten feet wide extends round the hall, and a staircase on 
the left in the vestibule leads to it. From this gallery there is an excellent view of 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



55 




56 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

the proceedings of the speculators below. The rooms at the sides and at the lower 
end are appropriated to the tribunal de commerce, and other authorized commer- 
cial bodies. The interior of the hall, the roof of which slopes toward a skylight, 
is embellished with sixteen admirable imitations of marble bas-reliefs, five beiifg on 
each side, and three at each end. The subjects are as follow: The Genius of 
French Commerce accepting tribute from the four quarters of the globe ; Europe ; 
Asia ; the town of Nantes; that of Rouen: these are on the north side. In front 
of the public entrance is the king of France presenting the New Exchange to the 
city of Paris ; the town of Lille, and the toAvn of Bordeaux. On the right side: 
the union of Commerce and the Arts contributing to the prosperity of the State ; 
Africa; America; Lyons; Bayonne. Above the entrance: the City of Paris re- 
ceiving from the Genius of the Seine and the Genius of the Ourcq the fruits of 
Abundance ; Strasburg and Marseilles. Between the arcades are inscribed, in let- 
ters of bronze, the names of all the first commercial cities in the world. 

At the London stock exchange no person is allowed to transact business but those 
who are ballotted for annually by the committee ; and the business is confined 
entirely to the purchase and sale of stock and other securities, the royal exchange 
being devoted to transactions Avhich are of a more strictly commercial nature. But 
the Bourse is both a stock and a commercial exchange. The business in the former 
commences at one o'clock and terminates at four. The parquet is then forsaken by- 
the agens de change, and the merchants and ship-owners transact business until five 
o'clock. Bordeaux, Lyons, and some other places, have their bourses, as the min- 
ister of finance, in 1819, authorized supplementary grand books of the state ; and 
the agens de change in those places are enabled to effect negotiations in the public 
funds without recurring to the capital. The inscriptions in these supplementary 
books are inspected by the prefect of the department, and signed by the depart- 
mental receiver-general. The transactions which have arisen out of this arrange- 
ment are on a small scale. 

The authorized brokers (agens de change) receive their appointment from the 
king, and are sixty in number. They are obliged to provide heavy security. No 
transactions in the funds or in bills of exchange can be negotiated but by the members 
of this body. Another public body, coni^-ected with the Bourse, is composed of the 
courtiers de commerce, whose number is also limited to sixty. They certify the 
nrice of gold and silver, establish the rates of insurance and freights, and are alone 
-dmitted in the courts of law as arbitrators in disputes of a commercial nature. 
The Tribunal de Commerce comprises the principal merchants of the Cjapital, who 
are nominated by a general assembly of the mercantile body. It is composed of 
eight judges, fifteen deputy judges, and has its subordinate officers; among whom 
are ten called gardes du commerce, xAio execute the judicial orders of the tribunal. 
The Tribunal de Commerce is the court of bankruptcy. 

Some years ago it was attempted to exclude females from the Bourse. The wo- 
men of France are accustomed to lake an active part in business, a practice which 
is in accordance with the habits and feelings of the French. They were active 
among the speculators at the Bourse, and, driven from its precincts, they carried on 
their operations iir one of the adjoining houses, and the fluctuations in French and 
foreign stock were conveyed to them by messengers. The exclusion was not long 
kept in force. 

During the revolution of the last century one of the churches Avas converted into 
an exchange. The present Bourse is in the centre of the gayest part of Paris, only 
a short distance from the Boulevards, and not far from the Palais Royal, by the rue 
Vivienne. Immediately facing this building, dedicated to business, is the theatre 
des nouveautes. In Paris the commercial speculator and the man of pleasure jostle 
each other continually. The last three articles of information in every daily paper 
in Paris consist of an account of the drawings of the state lottery, the operations on 
the Bourse, and the list of plays to be performed at the diflferent theatres. 

In the " Annuaire," published by the Bureau des Longitudes, the consumption of 
butter in Paris in 1834 is stated to have amounted in value to $2,100,000 ; and the 
consumption of eggs in the same year is valued at $882,915. No estimate is given 
of the value or quantity of fresh cheese annually consumed, but it probably equals the 
consumption of dry cheese, which is valued at $230,000 a-year. There are several 
places in France celebrated for the quality of cheese which they produce ; and among 
the better cheeses may be named the fromages de Roquefort, ia the department of the 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



57 




58 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Aveyron ; those of the Mont d'Or, in the Puy-de-D6me ; of Neufchatel, in the Seme 
Inferieure ; of Montpellier ; of Sassenage, in the Isere ; of Marolles ; of Langres ; 
of Brie ; of the department of the Cantal ; besides many others. The peculiar qual- 
ities of some of them are owing to their being made with goats' milk, and also with 
the milk of ewes. Some of the above-mentioned descriptions of cheese are dry, and 
others are fresh. There is also a tolerably large consumption of Swiss cheese, prin- 
cipally of the kind called Gruyere. The common round Dutch cheese is also in re- 
quest, and occasionally Cheshire and Gloucester cheese may be seen in the stores of 
the principal purveyors, who ransack the world for the gratification of the ^owrmcni. 
The value of cheese annually imported into France amounts to above $3,250,000 per 
annum, and about one sixth of this amount is exported. In London the consumption 
of butter is believed to average about twenty pounds for each person per year, and 
the consumption in Paris is probably about one fourth less. There is, however, the 
greatest difference as to the manner in Avhich butter is used in the two capitals, the 
chief consumption being at the morning and afternoon meal in London, while there 
is no repast in France which answers to that one which, among the great majority 
of the people, follows that of dinner in England ; and butter does not necessarily form 
part of a French breakfast, so that the quantity consumed is almost, wholly employed 
in culinary preparations. The butter brought to the Paris market is in large masses 
or lumps, in a fresh state ; and instead of being conveyed in barrels, is wrapped up 
in cloths, as shown in the engraving. It is sold in the market at auction. The pres- 
ent markethouse was erected for the accommodation of the dealers in 1822, and is of 
a triangular form, the roof being supported by stone pillars. It is lighted from the 
top by a glazed cupola, beneath which is the bureau de vente, where the auctioneer 
and his assistants stand. The market opens every day at noon. On Monday and 
Friday the country people in the neighborhood bring their butter and eggs; on Tues- 
day the market is open only for the sale of cheese ; on Wednesday, the butter of Is- 
signy, a place some distance from Paris, is exclusively sold ; and on Thursday and 
Saturday, only the butter of Gournay, a small town in the department of the Seine 
Inferieure. Normandy is, indeed, the great source whence Paris draws its supply of 
food. 

In a pamphlet published by Mr. Burke, in the year 1795, entitled " Thoughts and 
Details on Scarcity," he commenced his work as follows: " Of all things, an indis- 
creet tampering with the trade of provisions is the most dangerous, and it is always 
worst m the time when men are most disposed to it, that is, in the time of scarcity. 
Because there is nothing on which the passions of men are so violent, and their judg- 
ment so weak, and on which there exists such a multitude of ill-founded prejudices." 
These truths have been applicable to all times, but it will be seen that they were 
peculiarly so during the period in question. 

The public anxiety in Paris respecting the supply of provisions was awakened in 
1789, the year in which the states-general were assembled. One of the political par- 
ties into which the country was divided had, previous to the harvest, despatched cour- 
iers into the provinces with alarming rumors, that the " brigands" employed by the 
enemies of the national regeneration had the intention of cutting down the corn be- 
fore it was ripe. The object of this proceeding was to arm the people in support of 
the national rights, though it is contended by some that it was the opponents of change 
who had adopted this course, calculating upon the support of the country against the 
violent partisans of the revolution. At all events, it had the effect of arming the whole 
of France. The alarm thus engendered proved most injurious to the public confi- 
dence, and the rich farmers, instead of bringing their produce into the markets, pre- 
ferred waiting the arrival of quieter times. As supporters of the revolution, Necker 
and Bailly, fearing that its success would be prejudiced by popular tumults arising 
from the scarcity of food in Paris, made great sacrifices for the supply of the capital, 
but without much success. The markets were ill-supplied, and prices became ex- 
cessively high ; land carriage was difficult and expensive, owing to the necessity of 
recurring to a wider range of markets ; and robberies were frequently committed on 
the road, for the scarcity, though most severely felt in Paris, pressed upon the v/hole 
country. On the 5th of October, a tumult, which originated with the market-women 
of Paris, occasioned the celebrated movement of the populace to Versailles, whither 
they marched in disorderly masses, uttering cries for bread. The distance of this 
place is about twelve miles from Paris, and the journey there and back could not be 
performed by such a multitude in a single day. During the night a tolerable degree 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 59 

of order was preserved, but early in the morning the palace was forcibly entered, and 
the queen had barely time to leave her sleeping apartment. The state of ignorance 
in which the people had been kept, may be judged of by the fact of their believing 
that proceedings of this nature would by any possible means have the effect of resto- 
ring plenty. 

Three years afterward, in 1792, the harvest was late, and, owing to the number of 
men required for the armies, the thrashing out of the grain had not proceeded very 
actively ; but, as in 1789, other causes of a more powerful nature were at work. Un- 
der ordinary circumstances, the farmer would have availed himself of a period of 
high prices to dispose of his graift, and labor, which was deficient, would have been 
stimulated by higher wages. The employment most profitable for the moment would 
have invited all the disposable labor at hand, and abundance would soon have been 
visible in the markets. This would have taken place, if the natural circumstances 
under which men act had been allowed their free operation ; but a number of vexa- 
tious regulations had been adopted, with a view of forcing supplies into the markets. 
The most absurd ideas were fermenting in men's minds, and the sans culottes had 
raised a clamor against the large farmers, whom they designated as " aristocrats," a 
term which a short time afterward was sufficient to bring a man to the scaflTold. The 
surplus produce of a large farm is greater in proportion than that of a small farm ; 
but, said these economists, the large farms ought to be divided. The more fiercely 
the farmers were attacked, the less disposed were they to expose themselves to the 
risk of pillage, and to injurious regulations ; and of course the scarcity became 
greater. The supplies which were furnished being small, were sold at an exorbitant 
price. 

These difficulties were increased by the creation of a new paper money, inten4ed 
to represent the national domains, the property of the church, and the estates of the 
emigrants, which the national convention had taken into its hands, for the purpose 
of defraying the expense of the war. To put in circulation the value of this prop- 
erty the assignats were resorted to. Th.ey were intended to represent this property, 
and as'it found purchasers the assignats were to be called in. The value of this 
money fluctuated from day to day, for if the revolution lost the ascendency in the 
nation, and the ancient state of things was restored, it was conceived that the currency 
which the revolution had created for its own purposes and wants would be dishon- 
ored, and of no value; and the fear that all sales of public property would become 
null and void kept back purchasers. Nevertheless, the quantity of assignats emitted 
was prodigious, and their value, as compared with specie and merchandise, was con- 
stantly diminishing, as they remained in circulation without representing an equiva- 
alent value. The working-classes, who received their wages in assignats, could not 
command the necessaries of life. Not only bread, but sugar, coff"ee, candles, and 
soap, doubled their prices. The washerwomen complained to the national conven- 
tion, that they paid thirty sous for soap which they formerly obtained for fourteen 
sous. The people were 'told to ask a higher price for their labor, in order that the 
proportion between their wages and the price of consumable articles might be re- 
established ; but this arrangement they could not eff"ect, and they denounced as objects 
of vengeance those whom they termed the mercantile aristocracy. On the 25th of 
February, 1793, Marat addressed the people in his newspaper, stating that the only 
means of putting an end to the evils of which they complained was to pillage the 
shops, and to hang up the shopkeepers at their own doors. This advice was fol- 
lowed : at first the shopkeepers were compelled to sell their commodities at half- 
price ; and the next step — and it was scarcely in any degree more unjust — was to 
take them without paying anything at all. The diflSculties of the shopkeepers them- 
selves were not less than those which the other classes of the people endured. They 
were backward in disposing of their goods in exchange for a currency whose value 
underwent daily changes, but they willingly sold if payments were made in coin, as 
the metallic currency alone remained the real standard of value. The general dis- 
tribution of the necessaries of life became impossible under these circumstances. The 
people who received only assignats in vain endeavored to procure the necessaries of 
life in exchange for them. 

Amid these harassing difficulties, it was determined that, as the anticipated value 
of the national property had been put 'm\o forced circulation, it was necessary to sus- 
tain its value by forced means. The convention decreed, that whoever was found 
guilty of exchanging a higher (nominal) value of assignats against a smaller quantity 



60 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

of coin, silver or gold, should be punished with inaprisonment in irons for six years ; 
and that the same penalty should be inflicted upon whoever stipulated for a different 
price for payments made in paper or specie. Notwithstanding these heavy penal 
enactments, it was impossible that the difference in value, which was inseparable 
from the two species of money, should not have its due action in some shape or other. 
In June, a franc in coin was worth three francs in assignats ; and in August, only two 
months afterward, a franc in silver was worth six assignats. Merchants and shop- 
keepers refused to sell their commodities at the same price as formerly, because pay- 
ment was offered to them in a currency which had no more than a fifth or sixth of 
its value. Persons in official employments, the creditors of the state, and creditors 
generally, could not live upon their deteriorated property or income, and the Avorking- 
classes were in the greatest distress. It was suggested, as a means of remedying the 
general misfortunes, that a fixed price should be set upon all merchandise and prod- 
uce. The law had decreed that an assignat was worth so many francs, and had pro- 
hibited payments being made or demanded of so many assignats as made up the 
difference in value between the assignat in paper and in coin ; but it was necessary 
to advance a step farther, and to fix a value upon all saleable articles. In May, 1793, 
the convention passed a decree, by which the farmers and corn-dealers were obliged 
to declare the quantity of grain they had in stock, to thrash out that which was in 
ear, to carry the produce into the markets, and into the markets only, and to sell it, 
not at a price determined by the nature of things, but at a price fixed upon by the 
revolutionary authorities in each parish, which price was based on the prices of an 
anterior period. Nobody was permitted to buy more than was required for his per- 
sonal wants for a period not exceeding one month ; and those who bought or sold at 
a price higher than that which had been fixed upon by the above-mentioned authori- 
ties were punished with confiscation, and penalties of from sixty to two hundred dollars. 
Domiciliary visits were made, for the purpose of verifying the statements of the far- 
mers and dealers. The revolutionary authorities of Paris framed regulations which 
were to be strictly observed by the inhabitants on receiving their supply of bread from 
the bakers. Cards were delivered, on which was stated the quantity of bread to 
which the bearer was entitled, the proportion being according to the number of each 
family. The revolutionary committees even regulated the order to be observed in 
applying at the bakers. A cord was to be attached to the baker's door, and each 
person as he arrived took hold of it, and was served in his proper turn. The cord 
was sometimes cut by mischievous persons, when tumults ensued, and the armed 
force was called in to quell the disturbance. It must be remarked, that all this time 
there was no real scarcity of corn in the country. The immense task of supplying 
Paris with bread, which the government had taken upon its shoulders, the vexatious 
regulations of minor authorities, were each the consequence of a derangement and 
subversion of the ordinary principles of supply and demand, which these authorities 
had brought about by a system of interference with private interests. One step was' 
necessarily followed by another. The circulation of the assignats being forced, it 
became necessary to fix prices within rigid limits, to force sales, and to regulate even 
the hour, the quantity, and the mode of distribution. As many of the dealers closed 
their shops, in order to avoid the ruin with which they were menaced by the system 
of interfering with their concerns, they became the objects of hostile denunciations. 
At the same time the supplies intended for the capital were pillaged on the high- 
ways, and on the canals and rivers. The authorities endeavored to repress these 
outrages, and Pache, the mayor, caused the following address to be posted on the 
walls of Paris ; — 

" The mayor Pache to his fellow-citizens : Paris contains 700,000 inhabitants. The 
soil of Paris produces nothing for their nourishment or their clothing, and it follows 
that everything must be obtained from other departments and from abroad. If prod- 
uce and merchandise intended for the markets of Paris are pillaged, the producers 
and manufacturers will cease to send supplies ; Paris will no longer be able to obtain 
either clothing or the means of supporting its numerous inhabitants, and 700,000 
starving men will devour each other !" 

In spite of this appeal to common sense, it was impossible to restore confidence, 
and the markets were nearly unsupplied. The convention endeavored to remedy 
this by an increased severity, and it was enacted that all sales which did not take 
place in the public markets should subject the seller to the punishment of death. 
The most vexatious and inquisitorial means were resorted to for the purpose of secu- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 61 

ring attention to this regulation. Every merchant and dealer was required to make 
a declaration of the amount of his stock, and fraudulent attempts to conceal the real 
quantity subjected the unhappy individual to capital punishment. Persons distin- 
guished for their attachment to the revolution were appointed in each parish, and 
they fixed the price of all saleable commodities at a rate which it was presumed 
would leave a moderate profit, and not be beyond the means of the poor consumers ; 
but, nevertheless, sales were to be made whether any profit remained or not. These 
inflexible regulations occasioned a still greater number of dealers of all kinds to 
close their shops. The retail dealers were alone subjected to them at first, but it 
was soon apparent that the producers ought also to be under their control. The re- 
tail-dealer was not in a position in which he could influence the price of the raw 
material; or the rate of wages paid to the workmen by whom it was prepared for 
the market ; and, in order to avoid enormous losses, they sold none but articles of 
the most inferior quality at the prices fixed by the authorities. The butchers bought 
cattle which had died, and the bakers did not half bake the bread, in order to make 
it weigh heavier. They reserved articles of the best quality for those who came in 
a secret manner, and paid the full value. These practices were suspected by the 
people, and they demanded that all the dealers should be compelled to keep open 
their shops and continue their trade ; and that the regulations enacted for their ob- 
servance should be strictly obeyed. Chaumette, the procureur-general of the com- 
mune of Paris, threatened that the shops and manufactories which had been closed, 
should be taken in possession on behalf of the republic, with all the goods and ma- 
terials which they contained. 

The general violation of the principles of production had so completely disorgan- 
ized the economy of society, that the proposition of the state taking possession of 
all raw materials, and manufacturing on its own account, began seriously to be en- 
tertained. The ruinous consequences of such a course were overlooked amid the 
necessities of the moment. At every step in this career the public difficulties in- 
creased, and the erroneous principles which had given rise to them were still more 
earnestly clung to as a means of obtaining supplies. The commune of Paris re- 
quired each dealer in the necessaries of life to make a statement of the stock which 
he held, the orders which he had given for a fresh supply, and the expectation he 
entertained of its being received. All dealers who had been in business one year, if 
they gave up business, were placed on the list of disaff'ected persons, and as such 
were imprisoned. To prevent individuals accumulating a stock of provisions for 
their private consumption, the commune issued orders that the consumer could only 
be supplied by the retail-dealer, and the latter only by the wholesale-dealer, and it 
fixed the quantity which each should be thus allowed to obtain. Thus the shop- 
keeper could not obtain more than twenty-five pounds of sugar at one time of a 
wholesale-dealer. The cards authorizing the delivery of these scanty supplies were 
delivered by the revolutionary committees. The commune did not stop here, but as 
the crowds which surrounded the bakers' shops frequently occasioned tumults, and 
many persons passed a part of the night, in order to obtain an early supply, direc- 
tions were given that the last-comers should be served the first; but this neither di- 
minished the anxiety of the people, nor the causes of disturbance. On complaints 
being made that the worst description of bread was reserved for the poor, it was or- 
dered that there should be only one sort of bread made in Paris, Avhich should con- 
sist of three parts wheat and one part barley. 

Some delay had taken place in applying the maximum to goods before they left 
the manufactory, but it was at length determined that they should be subjected to it, 
and tables were prepared of the prices at the place of production three years before, 
and a scale of future prices was arbitrarily fixed, and even the rate of profit of the 
wholesale and retail dealer. The cost of carriage was also settled ; so that the ex- 
act price at which the goods were to be sold was established before they reached the 
retail-dealers. The raw materials were not yet comprised in the tariff", but at least 
one half of the labors of the community were brought within the most absolute and 
vexatious rules. Commerce, however, endeavored to emancipate itself from them 
in spite of the penalties by which it was surrounded ; and merchandise and produce 
were frequently concealed and secretly sold, or, what was worse, they ceased to be 
an object of production. 

In 1794, owing to the war in La Vendee, whence Paris drew its supplies of cattle, 
there was a real scarcity of meat. The butchers could only procure a supply at an 



62 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

exorbitant price, and oblia:ed to sell at the established prices, they endeavored to 
evade the law. The best meat was reserved for those who could afford to pay a 
good price, and a number of clandestine markets were established in the neighbor- 
hood of Paris. The buyers who presented themselves in the shops, and offered the 
regulation prices, either could not obtain a supply, or meat of the worst description 
was offered to them. Vegetables, fruit, eggs, butter, and other articles, were no 
longer brought to market. The price of a cabbage was ten pence. The market- 
carts were met on the road, and the produce was bought up at any price. Paris, in 
the meantime, was in a state of famine. Great numbers of persons obtained a living 
by forestalling the markets, and selling provisions above the maximum to families 
in easy circumstances. The commune interfered with its regulations, and directed 
that those who forestalled the markets should be subjected to the heaviest punish- 
ments, and that the supplies should be equally distributed in the different places, for 
public sale. Persons waited around the butchers' shops in the same manner as at 
the bakers'. These multiplied regulations did not do away with the evils complained 
of; and at length it was suggested that the public gardens should be planted with 
potatoes and other vegetables. This idea was eagerly adopted, and the commune, 
which refused the people nothing, acceded to the plan. The authorities had granted 
everything which was demanded, but as the evil did not decrease, the most violent 
and ignorant began to attribute the public calamities to the moderation of one of the 
parties in the national convention ; and the clamor did not cease till these men 
were led to execution. 

The harvest of 1794 was abundant, and orders were given that it should be thrashed 
out immediately. To prevent wages rising to an extraordinary height, harvest la- 
borers were put in forced requisition, and their wages were settled by the local au- 
thorities. The supply of meat was still insufficient, and the daily consumption of 
Paris was fixed at seventy-five oxen, one hundred and fifty hundred-weight of veal 
and mutton, and two hundred pigs. These could only be slaughtered at one partic- 
ular place, and the butchers appointed by each section of the capital came there for 
their supplies. The inhabitants were served in rations like an army in the field 
Every five days each family was entitled to receive half a pound of meat for each 
individual. This supply could only be obtained on the presentation of a card deliv- 
ered by the proper authorities. As wood and charcoal did not arrive, owing to the 
operation of the maximum, the supply to each family was limited in like manner. 
During this period the country butchers carried on a lucrative trade. Profiting by 
the negligence of the rural parishes, they bought cattle in the pastures, and sold it 
above the maximum in a clandestine manner. The knowledge of this fact, however, 
soon occasioned the graziers to be subjected to a rigorous system of inspection. 

In 1795 the harvest was bad, and was followed by a severe winter. The reign of 
terror was over, but it was not so easy to restore life to commerce. The exirg.ordi- 
nary system of provisioning Paris not being sustained by men's fears, the supplies 
were more deficient than ever. The relaxation of the maximum was resolved upon, 
but this not being immediately followed by the awakening of individual industry 
and confidence, there was every prospect of a complete dearth. Prices were exces- 
sive, and the government, in order to bring them down, placed stores of its own at 
the pork-butchers, the grocers, and shopkeepers, to be sold at a cheaper rate. But 
this plan only led to frauds, which defeated the intentions of the authorities. This 
desperate state of things added to the exasperation of political parties. " Behold," 
said one, " the effect of the abolition of the maximum." — " Look," said the other, 
"at the inevitable effect of your revolutionary measures." — "Repair the injustices 
which have been committed," repeated some. "Restore the energy of the Revolu- 
tion," said others. On the 16th of March the inhabitants were put upon rations. A 
pound of bread per day was given to each individual; and a pound and a half was 
given to workingmen, Avho were also served the first. On the 26th of March, the 
quaatity of flour necessary for the supply of the day not having arrived, only one 
half of the usual rations was distributed, and the remainder was promised for the 
end of the day. On the 1st of April, a mob, which consisted of women and chil- 
dren in the first instance, created a tumult on account of this mode of obtaining the 
means of existence, which led to an outrageous violation of the freedom of the 
legislnture. In 1796 the directory suppressed the distribution of provisions by 
rations, but the change was not effected without difficulty, and for a consider- 
able time the government was under the necessity of buying grain at its full 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 63 

value, and reselling it to the inhabitants, at a nominal value. The receipts scarcely- 
equalled the two hundredth part of the cost o[ this mode of supply, and the popu- 
lation of Paris was thus pretty nearly supported at the expense of the remainder of 
the country. Rations were for some time longer distributed to the indigent, to the 
creditors of the state, and to public officers whose incomes did not exceed one thou- 
sand crowns. The final suppression of rations to the inhabitants generally, excited 
violent commotions. For most of the last years France has not been visited with 
scarcity; the harvests have been abundant, and that shrewd monarch, Louis Phil- 
ippe, with that natural and foreseeing sagacity which is so important a feature in 
his character, has been quietly and silently depositing in reserve granaries the pro- 
vision for his people, to be used in time of need. It is thought now, in 1846, that 
these reserve stores will be needed. 

It will be perceived from the fioregoing circumstances, that the consequences of 
throwing the hopes and feelings of the industrious part of the community out of their 
ordinary sphere, were of the most mischievous character ; and that the task of sup- 
plying the population with food by forcing the action of commerce, and arbitrarily 
interfering with private concerns, was found to be attended with perils both to indi- 
viduals and to society. Let the system then pursued be contrasted with the silent 
operation of individual interest directed to the same end with such advantageous 
results to all classes. A more alarming state of things can not be conceived, than an 
immense population reduced to such a dilemma as the one which has been de- 
scribed ;' and the folly and inutility of coercive measures is rendered more glaring 
by the fact, that, generally speaking, there existed no alarming deficiency in the 
quantity of food. The want of confidence in the security and stability of things 
alone rendered its distribution uncertain and nearly impossible. 

The pouLTRT MARKET, which is both neat and commodious, was erected in 1810, 
and occupies the site of the convent church of the Augustins. It is situated nearly 
at the foot of the Pont Neuf, on the Quai des Augustins. The building is of stone, 
and is pierced with arcades, which are closed with iron rails ; betAveen the interior 
rand exterior walls are three galleries, which add considerably to its utility. The 
entire length of the building is one hundred and ninety feet, and the breadth one 
hundred and forty-one feet. It is open daily, but the supply is largest on Mondays, 
Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Game is sold in this market. A consider- 
able quantity of poultry is brought to the market alive, and as all the operations 
connected with preparing it for the spit are carried on within the building, it fre- 
quently presents rather a disgusting appearance. The supply of poultry required 
for the consumption of Paris in 1811, was as follows: the population has since in- 
creased about one third, aud as there has not been a proportionate increase in the 
consumption of meat, the actual consumption of poultry may perhaps be ascertained 
with tolerable accuracy by adding one third to each of the quantities given. The 
number of pigeons was 931,000; ducks, 174,000; fowls, 1,289,000; capons, 
251,000 ; turkeys, 549,000 ; geese, 328,000. In 1834 the consumption of poultry 
and game amounted in value to $1,545,610; the value of the eggs consumed was 
$882,915 ; making a total of $2,428,525. In England, when a family which rarely 
consumes poultry, wishes to provide this species of food, a goose is most commonly 
selected for the occasional treat, and hence the number brought to market is much 
larger than that of turkeys; but in France there is a sort of prejudice against this 
bird, and comparatively few are reared for the Parisian market. The greater dry- 
ness of the climate of France probably tends to deteriorate the quality and flavor of 
the flesh of the goose. 

Poultry is an important object of French farming, and it is thought by many 
that the consumption of poultry equals that of mutton ; but at all events it is much 
greater than in England, and it may be interesting to notice some of the causes to 
which this may be attributed. In the first place may be mentioned the lean and in- 
ferior quality of cattle and sheep in France. The weight of the English sheep is 
more than three times that of the French breed. The average weight of the Tees- 
water breed is twenty-eight pounds per quarter ; of the Leicester, twenty-two pounds 
per quarter ; of the Southdown, eighteen pounds per quarter. About ninety years 
ago, the average weight of the entire sheep sold in Smithfield market, was about 
twenty-eight pounds, but it is now about eighty pounds ; and the average weight of 
cattle has risen from three hundred and seventy pounds to about eight hundred 
pounds. No such improvement has taken place in France. There does not exist to 



64 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

any large extent a class of agiiculturists whose endeavors to improve the breed of 
live stock would operate in so extensive a manner as in England, where the 
change for the hetter in most of the domestic animals has been almost complete. 
In France, not only are the cattle not half fattened, in consequence of no proper food 
being grown for them, but the butchers do not prepare the carcase in so neat and 
clean a manner as with us. Some of the sheep, when fattened, do not weigh more 
than twenty pounds, and sell at about ninety-four cents a head. Bonaparte felt that 
it would be desirable to improve the breed of sheep ; but his interference, so far 
from producing the desired effect, tended to render the race more degenerate. The 
French butchers do not sufficiently attend to the age of the animals v/hich they kill. 
Calves are taken to market so young, that a little horse will sometimes carry two or 
three in a pannier hanging at its side ; and in the country -towns a farmer will walk 
into the market with as many as four live lambs on each arm, their fore and hind legs 
tied together, through which he puts his arm. The peculiar character of French 
cookery renders this want of perfection in butchers' meat less obvious ; but notwith- 
standing this, the greater consumption of poultry may be considered as one of its 
results. i 

The circumstances in which a large number of the cultivators of the soil are 
placed in France, do not "enable them to produce grain, even for their own con- 
sumption. Land has been divided and subdivided, in many instances, in very minute 
proportions, but the ambition to be landowners, which is so general in France, leads 
these small occupiers to make every exertion to maintain their position, although it 
is often an absolute waste of time to superintend the little patches into which their 
crops are divided. They grow, perhaps, a little wheat and rye, flax, garden prod- 
uce, and possess a few fruit-trees. They require some money, though not much ; 
and to obtain this, the produce of their garden, their fruit-trees, and their poultry, 
are exchanged at the nearest market-town. It will be seen that, to a class thus cir- 
curnstanced, the rearing of poultry is really one of the most important means of 
their acquiring the various necessaries of life ; for if corn be grown at all, it is re- 
quired for the domestic consumption. The Irish cotter is enabled to pay his rent , 
by the sale of his pig ; and though the French peasant has no rent to pay, yet money 
is equally indispensable to him, and poultry, fruit, and garden esculents, constitute 
the only surplus produce which he is in a condition to raise. Mr. Birkbeck, who 
visited France in 1814, and made some interesting notes on the agriculture of the 
country, thus describes the manner in v/hich tlie population is arranged. The ex- 
tract is not only interesting, as exhibiting the structure of society, but it shows that 
throughout the country it is consistent with the interests of a large class to supply 
all the minor objects of rural industry, and that they are, in consequence, likely to 
be cheap, Mr. Birkbeck says: "A town [Moulins, for instance] depends for sub- 
sistence on the lands immediately surrounding it. The cultivators individually, have 
not much to spare, because, as their husbandry is a sort of gardening, it requires a 
large country population, and has, in proportion, less superfluity of produce. Thus 
is formed a numerous, but poor, country population. The daily supply of the num- 
berless petty articles of French diet, employs, and therefore produces, a multitude 
of little traders. It must be brought daily from the country, and the number of in- 
dividuals whom this operation employs is beyond calculation. Thus fifty thousand 
persons may inhabit a district, with a town often thotisand inhabitants in the centre 
of it, bartering the superfluity of the country for the arts and manufactures of the 
town." 

Another cause which lessens the demand for poultry in England is the abundance 
of game. In France the game has been nearly all destro5^ed since the Revolution 
of 1789, and it is nowhere preserved as in England. Hence arises the larger con- 
sumption of poultry in France. The price of a hare in France, in a country town, 
is about sixty cents, and of a brace of partridges, about thirty-one cents. This is 
higher, as compared with the prices of meat and poultry, than in England. The 
consumption of Paris, in 1811 is stated to have been only 131,000 partridges, 29,000 
hares, and 177,000 rabbits. 

The Maeche des Innocens occupies the site of the ancient burial-ground of the 
church dedicated to the Innocents, which v/as demolished about fifty years ago. 
Formerly it was not included within the walls of Paris, but it is now in the centre 
of the northern quarter of the capital. The cemetery having been used as a depos- 
itory for the dead for so long a period as eight hundred years, became, in conse- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



65 




66 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

quence of the increase of the surrounding population, unfit for the numerous inter- 
ments, though it was not until the practice had been subject to complaint for many- 
years, that the authorities determined upon its remedy. In 1786, however, the 
church was taken down, and men were employed during the night for the space of 
several months in removing the relics of the dead. The exhalations which ensued 
on opening the graves occasioned much disease in this populous quarter. When 
the work was completed, fresh earth was brought to the place, the vacant ground 
was paved, and it was converted into a market for fruit and vegetables. In 1813 a 
wooden arcade or gallery was erected on each side of the market, for the conve- 
nience of the retail-dealers who attend during the day. 

The fountain in the centre of the market was formerly placed at the angle formed 
by the rue St. Denis and the rue aux Fers, and having been executed in the year 
1551, in the best style of that day, is an interesting specimen of the sculpture of the 
sixteenth century. The parts were carefully taken down, and in the reconstruction 
a fourth arcade was added, so as to give it a quadrangular form. The architect em- 
ployed stone from the same quarry, and by intersecting the old pieces with the new, 
the general character and appearance of the whole was preserved. The Corin- 
thian pilasters are surmounted by a pediment ornamented with naiads and bas-re- 
liefs. The lions were placed at a subsequent period, and resejpable those of the 
fountain of Termini at Rome. The cupola is covered with scales of copper. The 
height from the ground to the top of the cupola is forty-two feet. In the interior, 
on an elegant pedestal, is a large vase, from which the water ascends and falls into 
four large vessels, and thence into the lower basin which surrounds the whole. A 
reference to the engraving will convey a better idea of the design than any descrip- 
tion. 

Formerly each class of dealers and each neighboring town had its particular mar- 
ket-place in Paris ; but this was before trade and commerce began to be considered 
of much consequence, and such a useless regulation has long ago become obsolete. 
There are now a number of large and well-arranged markets in different parts of 
Paris. The Marche des Innocens is the most important, from its situation in the 
midst of a dense population; and it also covers the largest quantity of ground. 
Hence it is generally called the liaUe, by way of distinction. There are several 
markets very near to the halle, and the Emperor Napoleon formed a design of uni- 
ting them in a square of above one hundred acres, which would have included the 
Halle aux Bles. The Marche des Innocens is clean and well regulated, and the 
same may be said of the other principal markets in Paris. The Marche a la Vi- 
ande is, perhaps, the least so of any ; though, as the cattle-markets are held at SceauS 
and Poissy, both at the distance of several miles from Paris, and all cattle are 
slaughtered at the public abatoirs in the outskirts of the capital, there is every cir- 
cumstance which can obviate such a state of things ; ex:cept, perhaps, that meat is 
mot so well adapted for sale in a public market open only at certain hours, but pre- 
'serves its appearance, and is altogether better when brought at once from the 
slaughterhouse to the butcher's shop. 

A visiter who sojourns at Paris for a few weeks only, as is the case with many of 
•our countrymen, could take no better means of making himself acquainted with the 
appearance of the French peasantry, and the perfection and variety to which gar- 
den culture has attained in France, than by paying a visit to the Marche des Inno- 
cens. Saturday should be the day selected for this purpose. The month of Sep- 
tember is the season in which there is the greatest variety of fruit ; and from three 
o'clock in the morning till the opening of the market at four o'clock, is the most in- 
teresting time. During the day the market is occupied by the women of the halle 
or town-dealers, as the wholesale market is over in a few hours, and the country- 
people have taken their departure before eight o'clock. The market then becomes 
encTsmbered with refuse vegetables, and the appearance is altogether different from 
that which it presents when the business of the day commences. 

It is computed that six thousand peasants attend the Marche des Innocens every 
day, many of whom come from a distance of thirty or forty miles. 

The Frstit-Market, Paris. — The inhabitants of Paris would appear to be bet- 
ter situated for obtaining fruit in a fresh state than those of London. There are, 
first, the market-gardeners, who, however, do not cultivate on so extensive a scale 
as those in the neighborhood of London ; and then there are the small peasant-pro- 
prietors, who support themselves on the produce of their own soil, exchanging the 



CONTINENTAL -EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



67 




68 • SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

surplus for groceries, &c. This class will take the most trifling articles to market, 
and are always determined to bring back something in exchange. Many of them 
occupy little more than half an acre ; and yet they will make this small patch pro- 
duce walnuts, plums, cherries, apples, grapes, currants, &c. Not possessing a suf- 
ficient quantity of land to enable them to have a proper rotation of grain-crops, 
they do not raise enough for family consumption, and though they might subsist with 
a very small outlay on colonial produce, yet the necessity of procuring bread sends 
them into the market with all the fruit, vegetables, poultry, eggs, &c., which they 
can spare by rigid economy ; for the French peasant would rather starve than give 
up his property in land. Covent-Garden market, on the other hand, is indebted for 
its supplies to a comparatively small number of commercial gardeners, whose oper- 
ations are conducted on an extensive scale. In London, therefore, the supply of 
fruit must be distributed chiefly by intermediate dealers, while in Paris the opportu- 
nities of obtaining it fresh from the producer are much more numerous. Some of 
the London market-gardeners hold above one hundred acres, while the largest gar- 
den in the neighborhood of Paris does not exceed sixty acres, and the proprietor of 
this employs some portion of it in the production of mangel-wurzel for milch cows. 
The large space of ground covered by nursery-gardens at Vitry, near Paris, com- 
prises nearly four thousand acres — [Loudon) ; but the number of nurserymen is two 
hundred — [Forbes). 

Mr. Loudon ("Encyclopedia of Gardening") says that "the great mass of opera- 
tive gardeners in France, both as masters and laborers, are incomparably more 
ignorant, both of gardening as a science, and of knowledge in general, than the 
gardeners of this country." Few of them are regularly apprenticed, and there is 
little or no demand for good master-gardeners. The assistant-gardeners in the 
neighborhood of Paris are said by Mr. Loudon to be poorly paid, and are worked 
much harder than the same class in England. In the time of Louis XIV. the work 
of the royal gardens was all done in the night-time, and finished by six or seven in 
the morning, as this vain monarch and his courtiers probably saw nothing to interest 
them in the labors of the garden. The hardy fruits of France exceed those of 
Britain, but this is dependent upon climate ; and it is the opinion of horticultural 
tourists, likely to be free from prejudice, that in no country is gardening more exten- 
sively cultivated, or with so much ardor, as in England at the present time. The 
French gardener has more difl&culties to contend with than might be supposed. 
The winters are sometimes excessively cold, and in summer the heat and drought 
are occasionally injurious to him. He is not stimulated to the same extent as in 
England by the patronage of the wealthy, and ten dollars per pound for cherries, 
one dollar for a single peach, and for other fruit, on its first appearance, in propor- 
tion, are prices which are never heard of in France, where they are more content 
to enjoy each description of fruit in its own season. If it were not for the indirect 
good proceeding from this lavish expenditure, the motive for which often arises from 
a spirit of exclusiveness that, has few redeeming qualities to recommend it, such 
' extravagance would be more commonly regarded with less favor. In France, a 
greenhouse is not considered so necessary an appendage to a gentleman's residence as 
in England ; but forced productions are more in demand than they were ten years 
ago. The cultivation of the pineapple was only introduced at Versailles so recently 
as during the reign of Charles X. 

In the neighborhood of Paris, certain places have obtained a prescriptive claim 
for the excellence of the fruit or vegetables which they produce. Thus, around 
London, Battersea is celebrated for cabbages and cauliflowers; Mortlake, for aspar- 
agus; Charlton and Plumstead, for peas ; Twickenham, for strawberries; Pershore, 
for currants ; Maidstone, for filberts and cherries, &c. Rhubarb, for tarts, is sent 
by wagon-loads to the metropolis from a considerable distance. In the vicinity of 
Paris, there is Montmorency, famous for its cherries ; Montreuil, for peaches ; Ar- 
genteuil, for figs ; Fontenay-aux-Roses, for strawberries ; and, more distant from the 
capital, Fontainebleau, for its chasselas grapes, remarkable for their skin and fine 
flavor. Mr. Forbes, the head-gardener at Woburn Abbey, who has lately published 
observations made during a horticultural tour which he undertook at the expense of 
the duke of Bedford, in the course of which he visited France, makes the following 
comparison of the peaches produced at Montreuil with those grown in England : 
" On my approach to Montreuil I was surprised at the extent of white walls cov- 
ered with peach-trees and grape-vines." These walls, if extended, would reach 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



69 




70 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

several miles. Mr. Forbes says, " The peaches on the walls in this country (Eng- 
land) are much larger than any in France or Belgium, although the soil and climate 
in these countries are more congenial to the growth of this tree and maturity of its 
fruit, than our more northern atmosphere." It would be with regard to flavor that 
we should expect the fruits of France to excel those of England, but Mr. Forbes 
merely speaks of the comparative size. These peaches are sold at from one to 
four cents each. Mr. Loudon, however, does not speak so highly as might be ex- 
pected of the fruit grown in France, compared wiih similar descriptions produced 
in England. In an account of a horticultural tour in France, made a few years 
ago, which he published in the "Gardener's Magazine," vol. vii., he has given his 
opinion as follows. Under the head, "Fruits for tarts and pickling," he merely re- 
marks, " On a par with British markets." He visited the Marche des Innocens on 
the 13th of September, and the following record occurs in his diary: "Abundance 
of apples, chiefly Colvilles ; and of pears, chiefly bon chretiens and bergamots ; 
rock and canteloup melons ; chasselas grapes ; peaches, figs, and plums ; pear- 
shaped sorbs, sold at about a cent each; and a great quantity of very excellent 
strawberries. The last article is the only one in which this market excelled that of 
Covent-Garden ; in all the other fruits it was much inferior." In his "Encyclope- 
dia of Gardening," Mr. Loudon has again drawn attention to the comparative mer- 
its of the fruit and vegetables brought to the markets of Paris and London. Allu- 
ding to the former, he says, " The quantity and variety of fruits are greatly inferior, 
and also the dryness and "flavor of potatoes, and the succulency of turnips, cabbages, 
and the other common culinary vegetables ; but the Paris markets approach to 
equality with those of London in mushrooms, salads, and aromatic herbs, during 
summer, and far surpass them in those articles during winter." In the produce of 
the vine England has no pretension to vie with France. The grapes used for making 
wine are not those which are preferred at the desert, just as we make a distinction 
between apples for the kitchen, for the cider-press, and the dessert. The finest 
chasselas grapes may be bought at about eight cents per pound. Grapes for the 
table are grown to a considerable extent in the market and flower-gardens around 
Paris. 

Fruit and vegetables, being articles intended for immediate consumption, are dis- 
posed of with the most advantage to the consumer, and the least cost to the produ- 
cer, in a public market-place. Paris has the benefit of several large markets, 
while London, containing twice the population, receives its supplies of garden prod- 
uce in one market, and then through a much smaller number of persons than Paris. 
Whatever, therefore,. may be the respective qualities of the fruit and vegetables of 
the two countries, the inhabitants of Paris can more readily deal with the producer 
than those of London, to many of whom a visit to Covent-Garden would be a jour- 
ney of no trifling distance. Mr. Forbes visited the Paris vegetable and fruit market 
on the 7th of October. He says, " The display of pears, grapes, and walnuts, was 
very fine ; there were also a number of peaches, but these were of an inferior size 
to those grown on the op-en walls in England. The fruit-market was really so 
crowded with baskets of pears and with women, that it was with much diffieUlty 1 
could pass through it. There was an abundant supply of vegetables." 

The market represented in the engraving is used solely for the sale of fruit, which 
is chiefly brought in boats by the rivers Seine and Marne. Grapes and other de- 
scriptions of fruit may here be bought at a much lower rate than at the fruit-shops. 
A west view of Notre Dame is given on the right. The bridge here only crosses 
one arm of the Seine, the river here dividing into two channels, and forming the 
Isle du Palais, on which stands the cathedral of Notre Dame. 

The Wine-Market, Paris. — The words " halle" and "marche" are often ap- 
plied in an indiscriminate manner, but there exists a difference between their true 
import, which it_ rnay be useful to observe. A halle is a place of depot for mer- 
chandise, where it is at the same time stored for consumption and exposed for sale ; 
and it is, of course, sheltered from the elements. A marche., on the other hand, is 
an open space of ground where articles are not stored, but merely brought for im- 
mediate sale. When the business of the day is over, the marche is a vacant space, 
while the halle still contains its stores. Thus the spot where butter, eggs, fish, or 
vegetables, are brought for sale is, properly speaking, a marche, while the appointed 
public place where flour, cloth, or wine, are constantly kept on sale, is a halle. 
The Halle aux Vins, or wine-market, is one of the most complete and best-arranged 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



71 



J 












■^flll 



ll i! 



if 



■H 



72 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

of any o^" the places in Paris for the accommodation of merchants and traders. It 
is situated within the walls of the capital, at its eastern extremity, beyond the Jar- 
dia des Plantes. The inconvenience of the old Halle aux Vins, established in 1656, 
had long been felt ; but the first stone of the present market was not placed until 
the 15ih of August, 1813, when the empire was on its wane. At first the works 
were actively carried on, but political disasters occasioned them to be suspended, 
and they were not completed until several years after the Restoration. It fronts the 
river. The piles of magazines are seven in number, four in front and three behind. 
The two centre piles in front are divided into seven compartments, and are used as 
a market. One of the buildings in the back division is of large dimensions, for con- 
taining brandies. The buildings are neat and commodious, and a part of them are 
surrounded by a terrace. The space between the several masses forms a sort of 
street, of which there are several, named after the difi"erent kinds of wine, as the 
Rue de Champagne, Rue de Bourgogne, Rue de Bordeaux, Rue de Languedoc, Rue 
de la Cote d'Or. This latter street, which is represented in the engraving, is the 
finest, and extends the whole length of the halle. There are counting-houses for 
the merchants, and bureaux for the oflScers who superintend the entrance and deliv- 
ery of the wines. A duty of twenty cents is paid per cask, and the number of entries 
sometimes amounts to fifteen hundred a day. France can boast of the simplicity of 
its system of weights and measures, but improvements are often obstructed by local 
customs ; and in the halle there is a bureau de depotage, containing measiires of the 
casks in use in dilTerent parts of France, and here purchasers can have their casks 
gauged. The Halle aux Vins contains three hundred and twenty-five thousand square 
yards, enclosed by walls on three sides, and separated on the side toward the Seine by 
an iron railing eight hundred and eighty-nine yards in length. The buildings were 
calculated to contain four hundred thousand casks, though in making this estimate 
it was thought there would only be one row of casks above the ground-floor ; but 
the manner in which the constructions Aw^ere completed renders it probable that 
they will hold from six to eight hundred thousand casks. 

The consumption of wine and spirits in Paris is under twenty millions of gallons 
a year, and the halle probably contains sufficient for the consumption of eight or 
nine months, or twelve or fifteen millions of gallons. The quantity of wine and 
foreign spirits in warehouse under bond in London, when compared with the con- 
sumption, exceeds the proportion contained in the halle at Paris; for iii England 
ifty gallons of ale or porter are drunk to one gallon of wine and three fourths of a 
gallon of foreign spirits, while in Paris, for every fifty gallons of beer which is 
drunk, there are above one hundred and sixty gallons of wine. But, notwithstand- 
ing this difference in the relation of the articles consumed, the stock of wine in the 
docks of London is four millions five hundred thousand gallons; and of foreign spir- 
its there is more than nine months' consumption for the whole of the three king- 
doms, the quantity in bond exceeding three millions six hundred thousand gallons, 
making the total amount of Avine and foreign spirits in bond in London over eight mil- 
lions of gallons. If to this be added the stock in the hands of the dealers, the total 
quantity of wine and foreign spirits may be taken at twelve millions of gallons in 
London alone. The relative consumption of wine and beer in France being as 
three to one, the quantity of wine stored in Paris should be three times as great as 
in London. It is true that the stock taken into the Halle aux Vins, is consumed in 
Paris, while that in bond in London is partly destined for the general consumption 
of the country ; but in England, exclusive of the quantity in London, the wine in 
bond exceeds seven millions five hundred thousand gallons, being considerably more 
than one year's consumption for the three kingdoms ; and in the hands of the deal- 
ers there is also sufficient for a year's consumption. The foreign spirits in bond in 
England, exclusive of London, amount to nearly six millions five hundred thousand 
gallons, and nearly two millions of gallons are in the dealers' hands, Avhich makes 
a total of eight millions five htmdred thousand gallons, or two years' consumption 
for the United Kingdom. The supply beforehand of wine and foreign spirits 
amounts altogether to about twenty-two millions of gallons ; and if it Avere possible 
to estimate the stock in the cellars of private individuals, perhaps the total quantity 
ready to be consumed would not be less than thirty millions of gallons. Wine is 
consumed at the rate of six millions five hundred thousand gallons a year; and of 
foreign spirits the consumption is about four millions eight hundred thousand gal- 
lons a year, so that England contains sufficient for three years' consumption. 



' CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 7f 

The corn-market is situated in the centre of Paris, in a circular space which was 
formerly the site of the Hotel de Soissons, built for Catherine de Medicis, in 1572. 
Six streets, leading to different quarters of the capital, issue from this central point. 
The last possessor of the Hotel de Soissons was the Prince de Carignan of Savoy, 
who died in 1741, in embarrassed circumstances. His creditors seized his property, 
including his hotel, which they obtained leave to demolish, with a view of selling 
the materials. The site was purchased by the municipal body of Paris, and it was 
determined, in 1763, to erect on the vacant place an edifice calculated to serve as a 
depot for grain and flour, the old Halle aux Bles not affording the convenience and ' 
accommodation demanded by the increasing population. In 1772 the building was 
completed. It Avas of a circular form, having vaults beneath, and galleries in the 
upper part, the internal space being uncovered. In 1782'the design of forming a 
rotunda capable of containing a larger quantity of produce, was carried into effect 
by surmounting the circular walls with a cupola. On the internal walls were placed 
medallions of Louis XVI., of Lenoir, one of the chief police authorities, and of 
Delorme, the architect by whom an ingenious plan, which had not been practised 
since the sixteenth century, was again applied in the construction of the cupola. 
During the revolution of 1789, the medallions of Louis XVI. and Lenoir were de- 
stroyed, but that of Delorme escaped the excesses of those times. In 1802 the cu- 
pola was entirely destroyed by fire, through the carelessness of a plumber, and the 
damage was not repaired before 1812. It is now formed of ribs of iron, covered 
with copper, and the building is therefore fireproof. The diameter is one hundred 
and thirty-six feet, being only fourteen feet less than the cupola which surmounts the 
Pantheon at Rome, The circumference is four hundred and ten feet, and height one 
hundred and seven feet. The light is admitted by a lantern, thirty-three feet in diame- 
ter, placed at the summit. It is composed of fifty-one curves, rising in a vertical 
direction from the cornice to the great circular window ; which are supported in the 
whole circumference by fifteen other curves, forming seven hundred and sixty-five 
compartments, the size of which progressively diminishes toward the top. 

The column which is seen in the engraving is the only remnant left of the Hotel 
de Soissons ; and it would have been destroyed when the hotel was demolished, had 
it not been for the zeal of a private individual, who purchased it, on condition that 
it should be allowed to remain. He presented it to the municipal body ; but, humil- 
iated by the reflection that they should have shown less zeal for the preservation of 
an interesting monument than an individual citizen, they repaid him the sum which 
he had advanced. It was then resolved that the column should be removed to the 
centre of the projected court, which, in the original state of the Halle aux Bles, was 
not covered in, and some steps had been taken to effect this object when the design 
was abandoned, and it is now attached to the exterior wall. The capital is of the. 
Tuscan order, but tl^e base belongs rather to the Doric style. The height of the 
column is one hundred and three feet, comprising the iron-work at the top, which is 
intended as a lightning-conductor. A sun-dial of very ingenious construction is 
placed at the spper part of the column, and at the base there is a fountain. The 
diameter of the base is ten feet, and the interior of the column contains a staircase. 
The miscalled science of astrology was in repute when Catherine de Medicis erected 
this column, from the summit of which attempts were vainly made to read the fu- 
ture. Bas-reliefs, representing trophies and crowns, fleurs-de-lis, the letters C and 
H interwoven, being the initials of Catherine and her husband, Henry II., broken 
mirrors, and other emblems of widowhood, are sculptured in various places. 

The Halle aux Bles is open every day for the sale of grain, seeds, and flour ; but 
the principal market-days are Wednesday and Saturday. While it forms a consid- 
erable depot, and is the centre of commercial transactions in grain, the Grenier de 
Reserve ou d'Abondance is on a much larger scale, and will contain sufficient corn 
for the consumption of the capital for two months. In this storehouse the bakers are 
compelled constantly to keep twenty-five thousand sacks of flour, besides seventy-eight 
thousand at their bakehouses. These greniers, or warehouses, are near the garden 
of plants, and were commenced in 1807. They were intended to have been on a vast 
scale, comprising mills for grinding flour, but the political events of 1814 occasioned 
an alteration in the original plan. 

In 1 833 the number of bakers in Paris was 600, and as the quantity of sacks of flour 
required to be kept in store is one hundred and three thousand, each baker must have 
about one hundred and seventy sacks on his hands, worth on an average from six dol- 



74 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 75" 

lars to seven dollars fifty cents per sack. This arrangement can not but operate with 
great hardship, not only by locking up capital to the amount of six or seven hundred 
thousand dollars, but by placing the bakers too much in the hands of the corn-dealers, 
and also by affecting the price of bread. When the markets are rising, they can not 
resort to their stock in the warehouses without running the risk of having to replace 
it, at perhaps a considerable sacrifice ; whereas, by consuming their stock on hand, 
and keeping out of the market for a time, the price of corn would come down. An 
artificial demand is created, the effect of which is to raise prices in an unnatural man- 
ner. Private speculation effects by more economical means those arrangements 
which the executive power can not undertake without oppressing private interests. 
The notion of providing for the prospective consumption of Paris indicates a want 
of confidence in the ever-active agency of personal interests, operating in commercial 
transactions, which^ possibly will be soon regarded as of little importance, now that 
the nature of trade is more generally and better understood by the French people. 
If a scarcity be apprehended in any particular quarter, prices rise as a matter of 
course, and hundreds of individuals avail themselves of the opportunities which are 
best known to themselves ; and by purchasing wherever the commodity is in the 
greatest plenty and the cheapest, the scarcity is obviated and prices are equalized ; 
or, if there be a real deficiency in the supply, the same vigilance prevents its being 
felt more severely in one place than in another. 

The annual consumption of bread in Paris is 397,272,972 pounds, of the value of 
$10,262,000 ; the consumption of flour in pastry and various other ways is 27,145,732 
pounds, of the value of $11,044,000 ; making the total consuinption amount in value 
to $11,366,000, and in quantity to 434,000,000 pounds. If the annual expenses of 
each inhabitant of Paris be divided into one hundred parts, nineteen of them, or 
nearly one fifth, are occasioned by the consumption of bread, twenty-two parts by the 
consumption of meat, and twenty-seven in wine and spirits. Each individual uses 
a greater quantity of bread in Paris than in London, and in the former capital the 
working classes may often be seen dining on bread and fruit, or with the addition of 
a small quantity of cheese, while in England there are few individuals of the same 
class who do not take animal food at their principal meal. It is fortunate that the 
price of bread in Paris is usually low. The price is fixed by the police every fort- 
night, in the ^me manner that the assize of bread was formerly taken periodically 
in London ; and it is generally sixty per cent, cheaper in Parii than in London, and 
of as good quality. 

Fuel. — A comparison between London and Paris, as to the extent to which the 
population of each capital actually enjoy an abundant supply of fuel, will be very 
much in favor of London, for the necessity of liaving recourse to fires is not felt for 
so long a period of the year in Paris ; and it is certain that the Parisians contrive to 
be cheerful without a fire, where an Englishman would often require one for " com- 
pany," as it is sometimes alleged ; yet the cost of fuel in Paris averages thirty-eight 
shillings and sixpence, and in London only thirty-two shillings, while the quantity 
used for manufacturing purposes is much greater in proportion in London than in 
Paris. The sum of thirty-two shillings goes twice as far in London in the purchase 
of fuel as thirty-eight shillings and sixpence in Paris ; and fuel is consumed in the 
latter place chiefly in indispensable cases, while in England it is regarded as increas- 
ing the means of comfort and cheerfulness. The consumption of every kind of fuel 
in Paris amounts in value to $8,360,000, being nearly one half the amount of the an- 
nual rental for all the houses in Paris, and two thirds of the sum annually spent in 
wearing apparel. The consumption in 1827 was 1,065,166 steres of firewood, 
4,007,459 fagots, 2,174,865 hectolitres of charcoal, and 938,722 hectolitres of coal. 
The population has increased considerably since 1827, and a proportional addition 
must be made to each of the above articles to exhibit the present consumption. Du- 
ties are charged on the admission of the above articles within the walls of Paris. 

The supply of firewood is brought down by the Seine in rafts, of which about four 
thousand five hundred arrive annually ; but this number includes those which bring 
charcoal and timber for other purposes than fuel. The Seine rises in the department 
of the Cote d'Or, southeast of Paris, and receives the Yonne, the Aube, and the 
Marne, before it enters Paris. It communicates with the Loire, the Saone, the 
Somme, and the Scheldt, by canals.' The greater the distance whence the supply is 
brought, the more necessary it is that the wood should be seasoned so as to resist the 
effects of the water. If the bark has been stripped off al the time of the wood being 



76 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 77 

cut, and then allowed to remain exposed, it becomes hardened, and is much better 
adapted for fuel. The degrees in which several kinds of wood differ in their specific 
qualities, and the degree of caloric which each of those qualities will give forth, have 
been investigated. The wood which is obtained from trees growing in a stratum of 
stones and gravel is much esteemed, and is brought by the Yonne from the Bourgogne. 
The distance from Paris not being great, it does not receive injury by long contact with 
the water. Wood of an inferior description is used by the bakers. The poorer classes 
often use wood in nearly a green state, from a mistaken notion of economy ; but the 
moisture which is disengaged neutralizes the effect of the caloric, and dry wood, of 
a higher price, would in reality be more economical. There are two or three kinds 
of wood which are used on account of the pleasant perfume which they emit, and 
others on account of the clear and lively flame which attends their combustion. There 
is something extremely agreeable in a wood fire, on account of the cheerful blaze, the 
pleasant odor, and the absence of smoke and dust, which characterize it ; but this is 
a luxury of a very expensive description in Paris. To keep the embers in a smoulder- 
ing state is the only means of preventing the cost of fuel from bearing a great dispro- 
portion to other household expenses. A composition of charcoal, in the shape of 
small bricks, is used to economize wood. Stoves, though not so common as in this 
country, are still in extensive use in Paris. Charcoal is used in cooking only, and, as; 
in some parts of the south of England where fuel is scarce, the fire is lighted and put 
out several times a-day. Of the coal consumed in Paris, the great proportion is used, 
not by private families, but in manufactories and workshops. About one fourth of 
the quantity raised in France is obtained from the mines in the department of the 
Nord, and the supply arrives at Paris by canal from Lille. One seventh of the total 
quantity of coal exported by England, or one hundred and four thousand one hundred 
and thirty-eight tons, is imported by France, chiefly at Bordeaux and other towns on 
the coast, which find the cost of internal transport much greater than that of obtain- 
ing a foreign supply. 

The He Louviers, one of the three islands formed by the Seine within the walls of 
Paris, is used as a depot for firewood. It is about three quarters of a mile in length. 
A depot of this description [chantier) is represented in the engraving. 

The charbonniers forma class similar in some respects to the London coalheavers, 
and are distinguished by a peculiarity of costume. They are said chiefly to come 
from one particular part of France, contrive by industry to accumulate a small capi- 
tal, and then permanently retire to their native department. Before the revolution 
of 1789, a deputation of the charbonniers had the privilege of being admitted at court 
when any royal marriage or birth occurred. The market-women, or dames de la halle, 
enjoyed by courtesy a similar right. These distinctions, accorded under special cir- 
cumstances to a fraction of the people by despotic monarchs, who regarded the mass 
of the people as incapable of exercising any power in the state, are now unknown, 
and would, in France, be inconsistent with the broad basis on which a constitutional 
monarchy reposes, when all classes are permitted to approach the throne. 



CHAPTER III.— FRANCE. 

Among the public establishments of Paris may be mentioned the baths, which 
have much increased in number within these last few years, and received considera- 
ble improvements in regard to neatness, convenience, and elegance. 

On taking a survey of this extensive city from a central situation, such as the 
steeples of Notre Dame, or the cupola of the Pantheon, it presents, with its suburbs, 
a form nearly circular, and as coal is not generally employed for fuel, its spires and 
domes are clearly seen, so that the situation of the distant public buildings and mon- 
uments is distinctly marked. 

There are few streets in London which will bear comparison with the Boulevards 
of Paris; they occupy the space originally appropriated to the defence of the city. 
This space has been converted into wide and magnificent streets, in the centre of 
which is an unpaved road, and on each side of the road is a row of lofty trees, and 
between each row of trees and the houses are wide gravel walks, for the accommo- 
dation of the pedestrians. The waving line which these streets assumes, adds 
greatly to the beauty of the Boulevards ; the eye can not reach to the end of the 



78 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

prospect, and the uncommon width is productive of no vacuity or dulness, so active 
are the movements of carriages and passengers, and so lively the scene presented in 
the shops, the hotels, and the coffeehouses on either side. The massy stone struc- 
tures of Paris appear to greater advantage here than in the narrower streets. On 
the southern side of Paris, the Boulevards extend a still greater length, and are 
planted with trees, but they are not considered to equal those on the other side of the 
city. 

The banks of the Seine present but few attractions to the visiter, except in the 
quarter of the Tuilleries, where, on one side are the Louvre and the Tuilleries, with 
its gardens, and on the other, from the Palais Bourbon to the Pont-Neuf, a succession 
of fine buildings. The older bridges were all constructed at points where the river 
is divided by islands. The oldest is the Pont Notre Dame, which was commenced 
in the year 1500. Ife three hundred and sixty-two feet long by fifty-two feet broad, 
and was formerly ornamented with statues and medallions of the tings of France, 
but these have been destroyed. The square tower rising above the centre of the 
bridge, contains machinery for raising water. On the banks of the river may be 
seen the washerwomen of Paris, beating vheir dirty clothes clean. 

The Pont-Neuf has twelve arches, and is 1020 feet long. The Pont-Roy'al, with 
five arches, was built by Louis XIV. ; the Pont de Louis XVI., or de la Concorde, 
completed in 1790, has five arches ; lower down the river, and opposite the Champ 
de Mars, is the Pont d'Jena ; and higher up, is the Pont d'Austerlitz, a fine iron 
bridge ; the Pont des Arts, opposite the Louvre, is also of iron, but is intended merely 
for foot passengers. The last three were built during the reign of Napoleon. The 
Pont de I'Archeveche, of three arches, was built in 1828 ; the Pont des Invalides, an 
iron bridge, in 1829 ; and the Pont d'Arcole, also of iron, in 1828. There are forty- 
nine quays ; they are stone embankments, on both sides of the river, and around the 
islands ; the whole extent is about fifteen miles. The sewers fall into the river 
through arches under the quays. Many passages, or covered streets, with shops 
fitted up in an elegant style, have been constructed within a few years. Paris is sup- 
plied with water, partly by aqueducts, and partly from the Seine ; there are eighty- 
six fountains in the public places and Boulevards, some of which are distinguished 
for their architecture. The houses are generally very high (seven or eight stories), 
and generally speaking, built of stone. For the magnificence of its palaces, the 
French capital surpasses every other city in Europe. From the Cite the streets run 
north to the Temple, and south to the Pantheon, but without being broad or elegant ; 
in recent times, the direction has been given them south to the suburb St. Germain, 
and north to the Tuilleries. They are not so clean as they might be, since the water 
is carried off by only one gutter, in the centre of the street ; a few of them are paved 
in the modern style, and provided with footpaths. The Rue de Rivoli, Rue de Cas- 
tiglione, and Rue de la Paix, are handsome streets. Among the finest of the public 
places are the Place Vendome and the Place du Carousel, which separates the 
Tuilleries from the Louvre. The Place Louis XVI., or de la Concorde, in which is 
a monument erected to the memory of Louis XVI., but which has recently been con- 
secrated to the charter, is also one of the most beautiful in! Paris. This place con- 
tains also one of the Egyptian obelisks brought from the Luxor ; one of the two is 
depicted in our engraving. 

When the French army, in their attempt on Egypt, penetrated as far as Thebes, 
they were, almost to a man, overpowered by the majesty of th6 ancient monuments 
they saw before them ; and Bonaparte is then said to have conceived the idea of re- 
moving at least one of the obelisks to Paris. But reverses and defeat followed. The 
French were forced to abandon Egypt, and the English remaining masters of the 
seas, eflFectually prevented any such importation into France. 

The project of Bonaparte had the sort of classical precedent he so much admired. 
Roman conquerors and Roman emperors had successively enriched the capital of the 
world with the monuments of subdued nations, and with the spoils of an from Si- 
cily, Greece, and Egypt. Among these, the Emperor Augustus ordered two Egyp- 
tian obelisks, also of the same character as Cleopatra's Needle, to be brought to 
Rome. To this end, an immense vessel of a peculiar construction was built; and 
when, after a tedious and difficult voyage, it reached the Tyter with its freight, one 
of the columns was placed in the Grand Circus, and the other in the Campus Mar- 
tius, at Rome. Caligula adorned Rome with a third Egyptian obelisk, obtained in 
the same manner. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



79 




80 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

The emperor Constantine, still more ambitious of these costly foreign ornaments, 
resolved to decorate his new-founded capital of Constantinople with the largest of 
all the obelisks that stood on the ruins of Thebes. He succeeded in having it con- 
veyed as far as Alexandria ; but, dying at the time, its destination was changed, and 
an enormous raft, managed by three hundred rowers, transportedthe granite obelisk 
from Alexandria to Rome. The difficulties encountered by the large, flat, awkward 
vessel, do not appear to have occurred during the passage across the Mediterranean, 
which was, no doubt, effected during the fine, settled summer season, when that sea 
is often, for weeks together, almost as calm as a small freshwater lake ; but they 
presented themselves at the passage of the mouth of the Tiber, and in the shallows 
of that river. When all these obstacles were overcome, it required the labor of 
thousands of men to set up the obelisk upon its base at Rome. 

The emperor Theodosius, at last, succeeding in bringing an obelisk from Egypt to 
Constantinople, erected it in the Hippodrome. Though this was of an inferior size 
(being rather under than over fifty feet) it is recorded that it required thirty-two 
days' labor, and the most complicated contrivances of mechanics, to set it upright. 

The Constantinopolitan obelisk still stands where it was first erected by the em- 
peror ; but those of Rome have been removed by the popes. In all, there are twelve 
ancient obelisks erect in the modern city of Rome. 

Thirty years after Bonaparte's first conception of the idea, the French govern- 
ment, then under Charles X., hsving obtained the consent of the pacha of Egypt, 
determined that one of the obelisks of Luxor should be brought to Paris. "The 
difficulties of doing this," said M. Delaborde, " were great. In the first place, it 
was necessary to build a vessel which should be large enough to contain the monu- 
ment, deep enough to stand the sea, and at the same time, draw so little Avater as to 
be able to ascend and descend such rivers as the Nile and Seine. 

In the month of February, 1831, when the crown of France had passed into the 
hands of Louis Philippe, a vessel, built as nearly as could be on the necessary prin- 
ciples, was finished and equipped at Toulon. This vessel, which for the sake of 
lightness was chiefly made of fir and other white wood, was named the "Louxor." 
The crew consisted of one hundred and twenty seamen, under the command of 
Lieutenant Verninac of the French royal navy ; and there were, besides, sixteen 
mechanics of different professions, and a master to direct the works, under the su- 
perintendence of M. Lebas, formerly a pupil of the Polytechnic School, and now a 
naval engineer, M. J. P. Angelina accompanied the expedition in the quality of 
surgeon-major. 

On the 15th of April, 1831 (which we should have thought two months too early 
in the season), the "Louxor" sailed from Toulon. Some rather violent winds and 
heavy seas proved that a vessel so built was not very seaworthy, and appear to have 
somewhat frightened the " chirurgien-major ;" but they arrived, without any serious 
accident, in the port of Alexandria, on the 3d of May. After staying forty-two days 
at Alexandria, the expedition sailed again on the 15th of June for theRosetta mouth 
of the Nile, which they entered on the following day, though not without danger 
from the sandbank which the river has deposited there. At Rosetta they remained 
some days ; and on the 20th of June, M. Lebas, the engineer, two officers, and a few 
of the sailors and workmen, leaving the " Louxor" to make her way up the river, 
slowly, embarked in common Nile-boats for Thebes, carrying with them the tools 
and materials necessary for the removal of the obelisk. On the 7th of July, when 
the waters of the Nile had risen considerably, the " Louxor" sailed from Rosetta ; 
on the 13th she reached Boulak, the port of Grand Cairo, where she remained until 
the 19th; and she did not arrive at Thebes until the 14th of August, which was 
two months after her departure from Alexandria. 

The Turks and Arabs were astonished at seeing so large a vessel on the Nile, and 
frequently predicted she would not accomplish the whole voyage. The difficulties 
encountered in so doing were, indeed, very serious. In spite of the peculiar build 
and material, the vessel grounded and stuck fast in the sand several times ; at other 
times a contrary wind, joined to the current, which was of course contrary all the 
way up, obliged them to lie at anchor for days ; and the greatest part of the ascent 
of the river was effected by towing, which exhausting work seems to have been per- 
formed, partly by the French sailors, and partly by such Arabs and Fellahs as they 
could hire for the occasion. An excessive heat rendered this fatigue still more in- 
supportable. Reaumur's thermometer marked from 30° to 38° in the shade, and 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



81 




82 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

ascended to 50? and even to 55P, in the sun. Several of the sailors were seized with 
dysentery, and the quantity of sand blown about by the wind, and the glaring reflec- 
tion of the burning sun, afflicted others with painful ophthalmia. The sand must 
have been particularly distressing ; one day the wind raised it, and rolled it onward in 
such volume as, at intervals, to obscure the light of the sun. After they had felici- 
tated themselves on the fact that the plague was not in the country, they were struck 
with alarm on the 29th of August, by learning that the cholera-morbus had broken 
out most violently at Cairo. On the 11th of September the same mysterious disease 
declared itself on the plain of Thebes, with the natives of which the French were 
obliged to have frequent communications. In a very short time fifteen of the sailors, 
according to our author, the surgeon, caught the contagion, but every one recovered 
tinder his care and skill. At the same time, however (panic, no doubt, increasing 
the disposition to disease), no fewer than forty-eight men were laid up with dysentery, 
which proved fatal to two of them. 

In the midst of these calamities and dangers, the French sailors persevered in 
preparing the operations relative to the object of the expedition. One of the first 
cares of M. Lebas, the engineer, on his arriving on the plain of Thebes, was to 
erect, near to the obelisks, and not far from the village of Luxor, proper wooden 
barracks, sheds, and tents, to lodge the officers, sailors, and workmen, on shore. He 
also built an oven to bake them bread, and magazines in which to secure their pro- 
visions, and the sails, cables, &c., of the vessel. The now desolate site on which ' 
the City of the Hundred Gates, the vast, the populous, and the wealthy Thebes, once 
stood, offered them no resources, nor a single comfort of civilized life. But French 
soldiers and sailors are happily, and, we may say, honorably distinguished, by the 
facility with which they adapt themselves' to circumstances, and turn their hands to 
whatever can add to their comfort and wellbeing. The sailors on this expedition, 
during their hours of repose from more severe labors, carefully prepared and dug up 
pieces of ground for kitchen-gardens. They cultivated bread-melons and water- 
melons, lettuces, and other vegetables. They even planted some trees, which thrived 
very well ; and they made their place of temporary residence a little paradise, as 
compared with the wretched huts and neglected fields of the oppressed natives. 

Referring our readers, then, to the engraving, we need only add on the present 
occasion, that it was the smaller of the two obelisks the French had to remove. 
But this smaller column of hard, heavy granite, was seventy-two French feet high, 
aud was calculated to weigh upward of two hundred and forty tons. It stood, more- 
over, at the distance of about twelve hundred feet from the Nile, and the intervening 
^ace presented many difficulties. 

M. Lebas, the engineer, commenced by making an inclined plane, extending from 
the base of the obelisk to the edge of the river. This work occupied nearly all the 
French sailors and about seven hundred Arabs, during three months, for they were 
obliged to cut through two hills of ancient remains and rubbish, to demolish half of 
the poor villages which lay in their way, and to beat, equalize, and render firm, the 
. uneven, loose, and crumbling soil. This done, the engineer proceeded to make the 
ship ready for the reception of the obelisk. The vessel had been left aground by 
the periodical fall of the waters of the Nile, and matters had been so managed, that 
she lay imbedded in the sand, with her figurehead pointing directly toward the tem- 
ple and the granite column. The engineer, taking care not to touch the keel, sawed 
ofF a transverse and complete section of the front of the ship — in short, he cut away 
her bows, which were raised, and kept suspended above the place they properly oc- 
cupied by means of pulleys and some strong spars, which crossed each other above 
the vessel. 

The ship, thus opened, presented in front a large mouth to receive its cargo, which 
was to reach the very lip of that mouth or opening, by sliding down the inclined 
plane. When this section of the ship was eflfected, they took care that she should 
lie equally on her keel ; and where the sand or mud was weak, or had fallen away 
from the vessel, they supplied proper supports and props, to prevent the great weight 
of the column from breaking her back. The preparations for bringing the obelisk 
safely down to the ground, lasted from the 11th of July to the 31st of October, when 
it was laid horizontally on its side. 

The rose-colored granite of Syene (the material of these remarkable works of an- 
cient art), though exceedingly hard, is rather brittle. By coming in contact with 
other substances, and by being impelled along the inclined plane, the beautiful 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE— FRANCE. 



83 




Obelisk of Ltixor. 



84 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

hieroglyphics sculptured on its surface might have been defaced, and the ohelisk 
might have suffered other injuries. To prevent these, M. Lebas encased it, from its 
summit to its base, in strong, thick, wooden sheathings, which were well secured to 
the column by Vneans of hoops. The western face of this covering, which was that 
upon which the obelisk was to slide down the inclined plane, was rendered smooth, 
and was well rubbed with grease, to make it run the easier. 

The mechafiical contrivance to lower the column, which was hy far the most crit- 
ical part, of these derations, is described as having been very simple. A cahle of 
immensp strength was attached to a strong anchor deeply sunk in the earth, and well 
secured at some distance from the monument. This cable was carried forward and 
made fast to the top of the obelisk, and then descending in an acute angle in the 
rear of the obelisk, the cable was retained in an opposite direction to the anchor by 
means of an enormous beam of wood, and by a series of pulleys and capstans. The 
column had been perfectly cleared from the sand and earth around its base, and walls 
of a certain height erected to keep it in the proper line of descent. Other works at 
its base prevented the column from sliding backward in its descent, and a strong 
bed, made of oak, and immediately connected with the inclined plane, was ready 
to receive it, .and pass it to the plane when it reached a certain low angle of decli- 
nation. 

To move so lofty and narrow an object from its centre of gravity was no difficult 
task — but then came the moment of intense anxiety ! The whole of the enormous 
weight bore upon the cable, the cordage, and machinery, which quivered and cracked 
in all their parts. Their tenacity, however, was equal to the strain, and so in- 
geniously were the mechanical powers applied, that eight men in the rear of the de- 
scending column were sufficient to accelerate or retard its descent. For two minutes 
the obelisk was suspended at an angle of thirty degrees, but finally it sank majesti- 
cally and in perfect safety to the bed of the inclined plane. 

On the following day, the much less difficult task of getting the obelisk on board 
the ship was performed. It only occupied an hour and a half to drag the column 
down the inclined plane, and through the open mouth in front into the hold of the 
vessel. The section of the suspended bows was then lowered to the proper place, 
and readjusted and secured as firmly as ever by the carpenters and other workmen. 
So nicely was this important part of the ship sliced off, and then put to again, that 
the mutilation was scarcely perceptible. 

The obelisk, as we have seen, was embarked on the 1st of November, 1831, but 
it was not until the ISth of August, 1832, that the annual rise of the Nile afforded 
^sufficient water to float their long-stranded ship. At last, however, to their infinite 
joy, they were ordered to prepare everything for the voyage homeward. As soon 
as this was done, sixty Arabs were engaged to assist in getting them down the river 
(a distance of one hundred and eighty leagues), and the Luxor set sail. 

After thirty-six days of painful navigation, but without meeting with any serious 
accident, they reached Rosetta ; and there they were obliged to stop, because the 
•sandbank off that mouth of the Nile had accumulated to such a degree, that, with 
its present cargo, the vessel could not clear it. Fortunately, however, on the 30th 
of December, a violent hurricane dissipated part of this sandbank ; and on the 1st 
of January, 1833, at ten o'clock in the morning, the Louxor shot safely out of the 
Nile, and at nine o'clock on the following morning came to a secure anchorage in 
the old harbor of Alexandria. 

Here they awaited the return of the fine season for navigating the Mediterranean; 
and the Sphynx, a French man-of-war, taking the Louxor in tow, they sailed from 
Alexandria on the 1st of April. On the 2d a storm commenced, which kept the 
Louxor in imminent danger for two whole days. On the 6th this storm abated ; but 
the wind continued contrary, and soon announced a fresh tempest. They had just 
time to run for shelter into the bay of Marmara, when the storm became more furi- 
ous than ever. 

On the 13th of April they again weighed anchor, and shaped their course for 
Malta ; but a violent contrary wind drove them back as far as the Greek island of 
Milo, where they were detained two days. Sailing, however, on the 17th, they 
reached Navarino on the 18th, and the port of Corfu, where they were kindly re- 
ceived by Lord Nugent and the British, on the 23d of April. Between Corfu ana 
Cape Spartivento, heavy seas and high winds caused the Louxor to labor and strain 
exceedingly. As soon, however, as they reached the coast of Italy, the sea became 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. &5 

calm, and a light breeze carried them forward, at the rate of four knots an hour, to 
Toulon, where they anchored during the evening of the 11th of May, 

They had now reached the port whence they had departed, but tbeir voyage was 
not yet finished. There is no carriage by water, or by any other commodious means, 
for so heavy and cumbrous a mass as an Egyptian obelisk, from Toulon to Paris (a 
distance of above four hundred and fifty miles). To meet this difficulty, they must 
descend the rest of the Mediterranean, pass nearly the whole of the southern coast 
of France, and all the south of Spain, sail through the straits of Gibraltar, and trav- 
erse part of the Atlantic, as far as the mouth of the Seine, which river afi"oids a com- 
munication between the French capital and the ocean. 

Accordingly, on the 22d of June, they sailed from Toulon, theLouxor being again 
taken in tow by the Sphynx man-of-war, and, after experiencing some stormy weath- 
er, finally reached Cherbourg on the 5th of August, 1833. The whole distance per- 
formed in this voyage was upward of fourteen hundred leagues. 

As the royal fiimily of France was expected at Cherbourg by the 31st of August, 
the authorities detained the Louxor there. On the 2d of September, King Louis 
Philippe paid a visit to the vessel, and warmly expressed his satisfaction to the offi- 
cers and crew. He was the first to inform M. Verninac, the commander, that he 
was promoted to the rank of captain of a sloop-of-war. On the following day, the 
king distributed decorations of the legion of honor to the officers, and entertained 
them at dinner. 

The Louxor, again towed by the Sphynx, left Cherbourg on the 12th of Septem- 
ber, and safely reached Havre de Grace, at the mouth of the Seine. Here her old 
companion, the Sphynx, which drew too much water to be able to ascend the river, 
left her, and she was taken in tow by the Heva steamboat. To conclude with the 
words of our author : — 

"At six o'clock (on the 13th) our vessel left the sea for ever, and entered the 
Seine. By noon we had cleared all the banks and impediments of the lower part 
of the river, and on the 14th of September, at noon, we arrived at Rouen, where the 
Louxor was rtiade fast before the quay D'Harcourt. Here we must remain until the 
autumnal rains raise the waters of the Seine, and permit us to transport to Paris this 
pyramid, the object of our expedition." 

The obelisk was then raised to its present position without difficulty. 

The Champ de Mars, Place des Victoires, Place de Greve, before the H6tel-de- 
Ville, Place du Chatelet, Place des Vosges, &c., deserve mention. 

The finest public monument in Paris is the column in the Place Vendome, erected 
under the superintendence of Denon, in commemoration of the victories of the cam- 
paign of 1805. It is an imitation of Trajan's pillar, in Rome, one hundred and 
thirty-four feet high, and twelve feet in diameter. It is of brass, and the material 
was furnished by four hundred and twenty-five cannon taken from the Austrians and 
Prussians in that campaign. It is covered with an immense number of plates of 
brass, by Lepere, skilfully united, containing bas-reliefs, representing events of the 
campaign. 

The triumphal arch in the Place du Carousel is forty-five feet high, and was 
erected after the war of ISOG. In 1815, the horses of St. Mark's, which had been 
placed on its summit, were claimed by the Austrians, and carried back to Venice. 
The gate of St. Denio, a triumphal arch erected by Louis XIV., is admired for its fine 
proportions and its execution. In the Place des Victoires, there is an equestrian statue 
of Louis XIV. In the new quarter, called Villa Trocadera, on the heights of Chail- 
lot, is an obelisk one hundred and twenty feet high, in commemoration of the cam- 
paign of 1823, in Spain. Some of the most celebrated prisons are the Conciergerie ; 
La Force ; St. Pelagie, in which are confined persons guilty of political offences; 
the Madelonnettes, for females ; the Bicetre, where criminals condemned to death 
and perpetual imprisonment are confined temporarily. The population of Paris, in 
1791, was 610,620 ; the revolution, the emigration, the reign of terror, and the long 
wars, diminished the number, and in 1804 it amounted to only 547,756 ; in 1817, it 
■was 713,996 ; in 1827, 890,451 ; and in 1830, nearly 1,000,000. 

Paris is divided into twelve arrondissements, over each of which presides a mayor ; 
each arrondissement is divided into four quarters ; in each quarter is a commissary of 
the police, and in each arrondissement a justice of the peace. The municipal coun- 
cil of Paris is the council-general of the department of the Seine, at the head of 
which is the prefect of the department, who, previous to the late revolution, was 



86 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

appointed by the crown. A prefect of the police, whose jurisdiction extends over the 
whole department, has the charge of the public safety and of the health department 
he has under him a municipal guard, and a corps of sapeurs-pompeurs, or firemen. 
The national guard maintains the public peace of the city, preserves order, and de- 
fends the national liberties ; their number is about 80,000. Since the beginning of 
the present century, the manufactures of Paris have rapidly increased, and it is now 
the principal manufacturing city in the kingdom. All sorts of articles of luxury and 
fashion are made with the greatest elegance and taste. It is estimated that 40,000 
letters leave Paris daily, and 30,000 arrive during the same period. Numerous dili- 
gences run to all quarters of the kingdom, and a ready communication between all 
parts of the city is kept up by the fiacres, omnibuses, favorites, cabriolets, &c., &c. 
Those who suppose Paris to be merely a theatre of frivolity and amusement, will find 
themselves much mistaken. That, in a population of nearly 1,000,000, of which 
above 50,000 are strangers, who resort to Paris merely for pleasure, there should be 
a great number of licentious individuals, is to be expected ; but who would judge of 
the character of the Parisians from the public promenades of the Palais Royal ? 
The truth is, that in these haunts of vice, the greatest number of the visiters are 
strangers. In the higher classes, there is little difference in the character of society 
throughout Europe. In Paris, however, it is distinguished for delicacy, polish, re- 
finement, and ease. The middling class in Paris, as in all France, is strongly char- 
acterized by the strictness and elevated tone of its manners. .The lower class is in- 
dustrious, but improvident, and shows none of that ferocity which the excesses of the 
revolution of 1789 might have led some people to expect ; and the events of the 
revolution of July, 1830, exhibit the Parisian populace in a very favorable light. 
They then fought the great battle of freedom for Europe, and exhibited to the sur- 
rounding nations a striking example of the moral regeneration that had been effected 
by the sanguinary revolution of the previous century, and the difi'usion of knowledge 
which had succeeded it. 

Paris is situated about ninety-six leagues southeast of London, two hundred and 
fifty leagues southwest of Copenhagen, three hundred and eighty leagues southwest 
of Stockholm, five hundred leagues southwest of St. Petersburg, and six hundred 
leagues southwest of Moscow. 



CHAPTER IV.— FRANCE. 

Normandy is a country which, in its general features, has often been compared 
to England ; and certainly there are sufficient points of resemblance to justify the 
comparison. The comparison holds in respect of climate, in the extent of undula- 
ting pleans with few mountains, in the excellence of the pasture, and in common 
vegetable products. The climate of Normandy is a little drier, and has a little 
more warmth and steadiness of atmosphere, than that of England ; but the same 
winds prevail, and produce the same effects, and the seasons are nearly similar. 
Agriculture is, however, in a comparatively backward condition, from the want of 
capital and the absence of improving example, rather than from any lack of inge- 
nuity in the cultivator. The farms are small, and a much larger proportion of the 
population is dispersed over the country in small villages and petty places, than in 
England. 

The villages are mostly situated in bottoms, the cottages being built with mud 
and covered with thatch. In the great towns most of the houses are of wood and 
plaster. A great deal of timber runs upward, downward, and crosswise ; the first 
story of the building projecting over the ground-floor, and the second floor over the 
first,, the roof being pointed with large stacks of brick chimneys at each end. A 
traveller, who was in Normandy about ninety years since, makes a remark upon 
these houses, which is worth transcribing: " Many of their old houses, when they 
are pulled down, have a great deal of chestnut-wood about them ; and as there are 
no forests of chestnut-trees in Normandy, the inhabitants have a tradition that this 
wood was brought from England, and there are some circumstances which, when 
rightly considered, add strength to this tradition. Many of the old houses in Eng- 
land contain a great deal of this kind of timber. Several of the old houses in Lon- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



87 




Farmer of Normandy. 



8b • SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

don, particularly the Black Swan Inn in Holbom, situated near Fetter Lane end 
(which exceedingly resembles the houses in Normandy), and many others in the 
neighborhood, and most of the ancient houses in Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, so 
named, as some etymologists tell us, from the quantity of chestnut-trees in that 
place, are built of this wood. There are also some woods and woody places in Eng- 
land called Chestnut-wood, particularly one near Sittingbourne, in Kent, although 
no wood is now growing there. Many houses in Hertfordshire, Rutlandshire, and 
other counties in England, are of the same kind in figure and materials; and, 
indeed, Normandy does so nearly resemble Old England, that the English traveller 
could scarce believe himself to be in France." A variety of the same species of 
house is mentioned by Mr. Dawson Turner. It consists of a frame-work of wood, 
with the interstices filled up with clay, in which are imbedded small pieces of glass, 
disposed in rows, for windows. The wooden sheds are preserved from the weather 
by slates, laid one over the other like the scales of a fish, along their whole surface, 
or occasionally by wood over wood in the same manner. At one end the roof 
projects four or five feet beyond the gable, in order to protect a doorway and ladder, 
or staircase, that leads to it; and this elevation has a very picturesque efi"ect. A se- 
ries of villages, composed of cottages of this description, occur on the road from 
Yvetot to Rouen, and may be seen in other parts. The gentry usually occupy 
houses of stone in the town, such things as country-seats being rarely seen. 

The farms, as already intimated, are rarely large, scarcely ever exceeding one 
hundred acres. The buildings attached to the dwelling-houses on a farm are very 
extensive, as neither corn nor hay are ever stacked out of doors ; but they are very 
indifferently built. The implements of agriculture are in a very primitive state ; 
the ploughs are heavy, the harrows continue to have wooden teeth, the thrashing- 
machine is not known, and the fan for winnowing corn has only partially been in- 
troduced. Nothing can be more simple than the mode of life at these farm-houses, 
and among the laboring population at large. Their food is bread, a few vegetables, 
and cider. Animal-food is never, or very rarely, used ; but coffee and treacle are 
among the articles which they consume. The dress of the rural population is ex- 
ceedingly plain, and has an antiquated appearance. This is true, also, of the vari- 
ous classes of the population, except the gentry and affluent citizens, who live and 
dress much in the same way as Parisians of the same rank in life. 

Having mentioned cider as a common beverage, we may add that apple-trees are 
extensively planted in this province, both sides of the road being frequently lined 
with orchards for miles together. The plantations are generally in large open 
fields, in which the trees grow about fifteen feet apart. " The apple-tree and pear- 
tree in Normandy," says Mr. Turner, " far from being ugly, and distorted, and stunt- 
ed, in their growth, as is commonly seen in England, are trees of great beauty, and 
of extreme luxuriance, both in foliage and ramification. The coccus, too, which 
has caused so much destruction among our orchards, is still fortunately unknown 
here." The cider of Normandy is famous throughout France. It is chiefly pro- 
duced in the western portion of the province, where scarcely any other beverage is 
used by the lower classes of the inhabitants. The cider of the first pressing is of a 
strong quality, but that of the second pressing is much inferior. The cider does 
not seem to be much relished by the English travellers, who, however, are by no 
means agreed in the grounds of their distaste. 

Another common object of cultivation in Normandy is flax. There are few far- 
mers who do not raise more or less of it upon their grounds ; and they get it carried 
through the different processes of manufacture by their family, on their own 
premises. A stock of linen thus manufactured in general forms the chief portion, 
if not the whole, of a young woman's dowry ; and it is therefore a great object with 
unmarried girls to accumulate as large a stock of it as they possibly can. This 
linen is of a coarse and strong quaMty, and forms the most general branch of man- 
ufacture in Normandy. Lace, also, is an important object of manufacture, and 
gives employment to a great proportion of the female population in difi'erent parts 
of the province. Men and women in Normandy generally marry young ; but they 
never do so till they are in some regular employment. A laborer earns, on an aver- 
age, one hundred and twenty dollars a year, on which he can subsist comfortably, 
according to his own ideas of comfort. If he has a wife and two children (about 
fourteen and eleven years of age respectively) able to work, he may get about two 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 89 

hundred dollars a year, these sums being understood to include every advantage and 
opportunity for making money which his situation affords. 

Normandy is celebrated in France for its cattle, which is no doubt owing to the 
superiority of its pasture. The horses are of small size, with long tails, which are 
never docked ; their strength is much greater than might be expected from their 
size. The asses and mules are larger than ours. The cows are small, but give a 
good supply of milk. Oxen are generally employed in ploughing. Sheep are 
abundant, and their flesh is good. Turner says, " Throughout this part of France, 
large flocks of sheep are seen in the vicinity of the sea, and as the pastures are un- 
enclosed, they are all regularly guarded by a shepherd and his black dog, whose 
activity can not fail to be a subject of admiration. He is always on the alert, and 
attentive to his business, skirting his flock to keep them from straggling, and that, 
apparently, without any directions from his master. In the night they are folded 
upon the ploughed land, and the shepherd lodges, like a Tartar in his Ttihiika, in a 
small cart, roofed and fitted up with doors." 

Normandy supplies Paris with great quantities of cattle, corn, butter, and cider, 
as well as with its manufactures. Its extensive communications with the capital 
are carried on exclusively by land-carriage. The high roads, being kept in repair 
at the expense of the government, are broad and in good condition, being paved 
wherever the boggy character of the ground renders it expedient ; but the by-roads 
are here, as in other parts of France, in a very wretched condition, being very sel- 
dom repaired. The extensive fisheries on the coast not only supply the wants of 
the province in fish, but leave a large surplus, which is constantly transmitted to 
Paris in light carts that travel night and day. 

The woodcutters and forests of Normandy. — In passing through the great 
forests which lie upon or near the banks of the Seine, between Havre and Paris, in 
Normandy, many a group like that shown in ou'r engraving attracts the eye of the 
traveller, and gives a human interest to the otherwise solitary grandeur of the scene. 
The poor woodcutter, his wife, and boy, are going, probably to some neighboring 
village or town, to sell to the retail-venders the fagots piled up upon that very curi- 
ous and ingeniously-shaped saddle into which the horse's back fits so exactly, and 
with the money thus obtained they will purchase the necessaries required for their 
humble household, and which are to last them until the next journey. The persons 
engaged in this most primitive of occupations are a quiet, simple-hearted people, 
very ignorant, but at the same time very contented ; their chief wants, food and 
clothes, are generally well supplied, and their principal desire, amusement, seldom 
lacks opportunities for its gratification. They are very superstitious, and on the fes- 
tival of Corpus Christi will walk miles to touch a headless statue of St. Louis, or to 
count a rosary at the foot of an equally-mutilated semblance, whether in stone or in 
waxwork, of their celebrated St. Mein. The females of this class, like those of most 
others in Normandy, are fond of bright, showy colors in their apparel, particularly 
red, which they use in every variety of tint. The petticoat is perhaps of intense red, 
the neckerchief pink, the apron striped with orange, and not unfrequently " bends 
over all," not exactly the " blue sky," but the much less poetical canopy of an im- 
mensely large scarlet umbrella, which is used as a defence from the overpowering 
heat of the sun. Seen among the depths of the green forests, such forms give a rich- 
ness and harmony to the picture which would otherwise be wanting. 

The forests, composed chiefly of beech-trees, are mountainous, picturesque, and 
wonderfully luxuriant. The exquisite greenness of their foliage, a characteristic we 
have been accustomed to consider as peculiarly belonging to our own woods and 
fields, is most remarkable ; and no less so is the variety, profusion, and beauty, of 
their wild flowers, which are the same as those found in England, only more devel- 
oped, and nowhere perhaps could the student of English botany better examine the 
generic details of the plants of his own country. The wild columbine there grows 
to a larger size than the cultivated species of our gardens, and the common orchidae 
rival in size and color the hyacinths of our parlor windows. Nor is the ear less de- 
lighted than the eye. The birds sing with a greater volubility, and with a more sus- 
tained song than ours ; the mingling voices of countless myriads of crickets are 
everywhere heard ; in fact, the entire forests seem to ring and tremble with their 
incessant gratulations. We have spoken of the effect upon forest scenery of the 
brilliant colored dresses of the woodcutters' wives ; but another and still more pictu- 
resque class of individuals is frequently met with in the woods, namely, the hunters. 



90 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Their weapon is the rifle, and one of the objects of their pursuit is the boar, which 
here grows large and savage. Their costume, conspicuous for its fitness and beauty, 
is, excepting the sugar-loaf-shaped hat, like that of the hunters of the Tyrol. Over 
the sportsman's frock they wear a broad belt, crossing from the shoulder to the waist, 
fringed with thread of bright variegated colors, and to which is attached a large 
leathern bag or pouch, curiously ornamented with tassels, which hang down at the 
side. "When not in use, the rifle is slung behind the back upon hooks attached also 
to the belt. On their breasts they wear a silver plate, exhibiting their names and 
number, which is the legal mark of their being duly licensed. They are attended 
by droves of great bear-like dogs. In the depths of the forests a kind of inn is every 
here and there built for their reception, called generally " Au Rendezvous des Chas- 
seurs." A stranger suddenly coming upon them in such a spot, and beholding them 
seated, standing, or strolling, in every variety of attitude about one of these rude hab- 
itations, might fancy, for the moment, he beheld the mimic effect of a theatre. 

The principal forests on the banks of the Seine in Normandy are those of Roumare 
on the left, of Bretonne near La Marll, Rouvray, DuPont de I'Arche, and the woods 
extending with but a slight interruption from the town of Andelys to Vernon, all on 
the right bank of the river. 

The origin of the name of the forest of Roumare is interesting. Rollo, one of the 
early and most famous rulers of Normandy, in order to check the habits of plunder 
which a military life had entailed upon his people, punished all oflFenders with great 
severity. In cases of theft, for instance, he hung both the robber and the receiver 
on their conviction of the crime. Whether from this, or from the operation of other 
wise regulations, he became universally feared and obeyed. " One day, after having 
hunted in the forest which rises on the bank of the Seine near Rouen, the duke, sur- 
rounded by a crowd of his servants, was seated on the edge of a lake, which we call 
in familiar language the pond (la mare), when he hung his golden bracelets on an 
oak. These bracelets remained hanging in the same place untouched during three 
years, so great was the terror of the duke ; and as this memorable fact took place 
near the pond, this forest is called the pond of Rollo (Roumare) to the present day." 
On the heights of Banteleir, in this forest, Voltaire for some time resided : many of 
his letters are addressed from that spot. 

The forest of Bretonne, which contains about twelve thousand acres, is very an- 
cient. It was the favorite hunting-ground of the early kings of France, one of whom 
built a country-house or fort in the neighborhood, at a village called Vatteville, the 
ruins of which yet remain. One of the curiosities of this forest is the " Tub," a tree 
so called, composed of three large branches united at the root, and forming a reser- 
voir for water, of which, in the hottest summers, it contains from three to five feet. 
At La Maillerie, on the edge of this forest, is the castle where it is said the Duchess 
de la Valliere first imbibed her unhappy passion for Louis XIV. 

The forest of Rouvray is very dense, and stretches to a considerable length along 
the banks of the Seine. It is supposed in growing up to have covered the ruins of 
some Roman settlement. Bronze medals of various Roman emperors, statues of 
Trajan, Antoninus, and Marcus Aurelius, and the remains of Roman agricultural 
implements, have been discovered there. 

The forest of Pont de I'Arche derives its name from the bridge of the neighboring 
town, which has twenty-two arches. Not far hence is the Cote des deux Amans, 
or the hill of the two lovers. This extraordinary name has been given to the mount- 
ain from its connexion with a still more extraordinary incident, and which, however 
romantic, is generally received as true. The king of that part of the country had a 
beautiful daughter, whose happy disposition and amiable qualities consoled him for 
the loss of a beloved wife. Time passed, and the people desired the princess should 
marry; but the king, unable either to refuse so reasonable a request, or to bear the 
loss of her society, caused it to be generally promulgated, that he alone of her suit- 
ors who could carry the princess to the summit of the mountain, without resting him- 
self, should receive her hand in marriage. The opportunity was eagerly embraced 
by a young nobleman, between whom and the princess there existed the most tender 
though secret attachment. Believing the feat to be impossible, the princess earnestly 
dissuaded her lover from the attempt, but in vain. A day was fixed, and the prin- 
cess appeared dressed in the lightest possible manner, and exhibiting, in the paleness 
of her features and the attenuation of her form, the severity of the measures she had 
adopted to lessen her weight. Full of confidence, her lover raised his charming 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



91 




92 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

burden and ascended the hill, for a considerable period showing no signs of exhaus- 
tion. He began at last to pause, then go on, and pause again. His steps faltered, 
and he appeared to be entirely giving way. At that moment, some cheering thought 
or most precious word, whispered in his ear, instilled new vigor into his frame : he 
again assayed the terrible steep, until, amid the rapturous shouts of the assembled 
spectators, he sto6d fairly upon the top of the hill. He put her safely down, and 
then fainted away. The princess stooped to recover him, and the king, as he ap- 
proached, seeing her in this posture, called to an old peasant to raise them. " Sire," 
was the reply, " they are dead !" The lovers were entombed together a few days 
after, and the spot has since been called " the hill of the two lovers." 

In the town of Andelys was born the great painter Nicholas Poussin, and in the 
neighborhood of the forest stretching from Andelys to Vernon is the castle of Gail- 
lard, built by Richard Coeur-de-Lion in the twelfth century. This fortress stood a 
terrible siege in 1203, when it was attacked by the king of France, Philip Augustus, 
on the pretence of punishing King John, of England, to whom it then belonged, for 
the alleged murder of his nephew. Prince Arthur. The fort being impregnable to 
assault, it was reduced by famine. The garrison was, consequently, from time to 
time obliged to dismiss its useless inhabitants, who were allowed to pass unmolested 
by the besiegers. At last this relief was stopped, and when the garrison turned out 
at one period above four hundred old men, women, and children, the French fired 
upon them, and drove them back in despair to the walls. Here they were denied 
admittance, and for three months were these poor miserable creatures obliged to live 
in the open air, and with no other sustenance than grass and water. At last a cir- 
cumstance too dreadful to mention reached the ears of Philip, and he relented : all 
those who were yet alive were taken care of. In this same fortress David Bruce, 
king of Scotland, resided when in exile. In 1409 it came into the possession of the 
English, who held it for above forty years. In conclusion, we are sorry to add, that 
these fine forests are said to be fast dwindling away, not under the axe of the poor wood- 
cutters, whose exertions may be said to be useful, rather than otherwise, in keeping 
down their rapid undergrowth, but under the more wholesale operations of the spec- 
ulator and the capitalist. 

Since the Revolution, the agriculture of France has undergone great improve- 
ments. Before that event, the proportion of agriculturists to non-agriculturists was, 
according to the best authorities, as four to one, instead of two to one, as at present. 
Arthur Young, who travelled in France in the years 1787-'8 '9, states that, in some 
of the finest districts, agriculture was then in the same state as in the tenth century. 
The pastures of Normandy have always been celebrated for their richness, and 
Arthur Young thought there was nothing equal to them either in England or Ire- 
land, " not even the vale of Limerick." These pastures were well stocked ; but 
with regard to tillage — and Normandy was understood to be one of the best-culti- 
vated provinces in France — he remarks: " I did not see a well-cultivated acre in the 
whole province. You everywhere find either a dead and useless fallow, or else the 
fields so neglected, run out, and covered with weeds, that there can be no crop pro- 
portioned to the soil. " Shameful products !" he exclaims, after giving the average 
crops of what he terms these " noble soils ;" and yet there was everything which 
could invite and stimulate the "industry of man — but his efi'orts were paralyzed: 
" The political institutions and spirit of the government having for a long series of 
ages tended strongly to depress the lower classes and favor the higher ones, the 
farmers, in the greater part of France, are blended with the peasants." They were 
destitute either of capital or enterprise. The mode of raising the taxes also tended 
to repress agricultural improvement. It has left, however, one consequence which 
may be regarded as beneficial rather than otherwise. A little show of wealth being 
taken as a sign that more existed, which would appear were it not for fear of being 
taxed, the principle of economy became deeply rooted both in the habits and man- 
ners of the people. 

The domains of the " grand seigneurs" were not cultivated in a manner which 
made up for the generally-defective character of French agriculture. In a rich dis- 
trict, intersected by rivers, and one of the best-situated for markets, Arthur Young 
observes : " The quantity of waste land is surprising." A great proportion of this 
land belonged to two of the largest landowners in France : and he adds : " Thus it 
is, whenever you stumble on a grand seigneur, you are sure to find his property a 
desert. All the signs of their greatness I have yet seen are wastes, landes, deserts, 



CONfflNENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



93 




94 SCENES AND SKETCHES I¥ 

fems, ling. Go to their residence, wherever it may be, and you would probably find 
them in the midst of a forest, very well peopled Avith deer, wild boars, and wolves." 
And again : " Great lords love too much an environ of forests, bears, and huntsmen, 
instead of marking their residences by the accompaniment of well-cultivated farms, 
clean cottages, and happy peasants." As to the state of the peasantry, says a con- 
temporary writer, " humanity will suffer by a detail of their manner of living." 
These woods and forests, in which the old noblesse had followed the chase, accord- 
ing to elaborate rules, more resembling those of an art than a pastime, were the 
first to suffer devastation when the revolutionary storm spread itself into the remote 
corners of France. Mr. Greene, writing in May, 1791, says: "The devastation 
committed in the prince's woods and forests, and the theft and plunder of his timber, 
are among the first acts of violence ; they have hewn down and cast into the fire 
whole thriving nurseries of oak and beech, and stripped every tree that answered to 
a poor man the trouble of cutting down. In a word, the whole estate begins to ex- 
hibit, in a natural sense, a mutilated and mangled prospect, once pleasing and prof- 
itable, and, in a ra,oral sense, a yet more melancholy view of the depravity, the 
ingratitude, and the wantonness of men, when they have not ihe fear of the law to 
restrain them." But the Revolution marched onward ; the feudal privileges of the 
nobility and clergy were abolished ; the gabelle, corvees, and other oppressive exac- 
tions, put an end to ; the property of the church and of the emigrants was thrown 
upon the market, and passed into the hands of a new class of proprietors. These 
have been the causes to which, in conjunction with the more general extension of 
knowledge, the subsequent improvement of French agriculture is to be attributed. 
The further subdivision of the land may check its progress, but that is an evil which, 
in the course of events, may be corrected without any departure from the principle of 
equal partition of property. 

Costume of Normandy. — The existing costumes of Normandy offer a more cu- 
rious subject than might at first be imagined ; for not only are they remarkably dis- 
tinctive in themselves, but in the prevailing dress of the females we discover evi- 
dent traces of a mode of attire which has been extinct in other countries for several 
centuries. Our chief authoriiies in this matter must be the respective tours through 
Normandy, of Mrs. Stothard and Mr. Dawson Turner ; and it is to the latter tourist 
"• that we are indebted for the indication of the analogy to which we have just 
adverted. 

Leaving out of view the costume of the upper and middle classes of society, 
whose attire offers nothing remarkable, being an imitation, generally slow and awk- 
ward, of the mode which Paris sets to the nations of Europe, we shall direct our 
exclusive attention to the costumes which seem more particularly characteristic. 
Both Mrs. Stothard and Mr. Turner, in describing Rouen, have mentioned the mot- 
ley groups of figures that appear in the streets of that ancient city. Among the 
most curious objects are the carts, which are sometimes drawn by eight or nine 
horses placed in a string, one before another, and usually adorned with sheepskins, 
dyed blue ; from the collar projects on each side of the neck a painted board, which 
is sometimes ornamented with pieces of looking-glass, the whole equipage having 
an exceedingly odd, but not unpicturesque, appearance. Other carts are sometimes 
drawn by yoked oxen. Some of the peasants who bring vegetables from the country 
on horseback, make a still more picturesque appearance. "But the best figures on 
horseback," says Mr. Turner, " are the young: men who take out their masters' 
horses to give them exercise, and who are frequently to be seen on the srand cours. 
They ride without hat, coat, saddle, or saddlecloth, and with the shirtsleeves rolled 
up above the elbow. Their negligent equipment, added to their short, curling hair, 
and the ease and elasticity they display in the management of their horses, give 
them, on the whole, a great resemblance to the Grecian warriors of the Elgin mar- 
bles." Then appear the women with their large baskets, tempting purchasers by a 
rich display of fine fruits and beautiful fiowers. Bonnets do not form part of the 
proper female costume of the country ; and the men are also frequently to be seen 
without hats, in the streets ; and when their heads are covered, the coverings are of 
every shape and hue, from the black beaver, with or without a rim, through all the 
gradations of cap to the simple white cotton nightcap. They seldom wear cravats. 
The common people of both sexes invariably Avear wooden shoes, fastened across 
the foot by a leather strap, with a piece of black or white sheepskin upon the instep, 
to prevent the foot from being galled by the pressure of the wood. " "When they 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 95 

walk or run along the pavement," says Mrs. Stothard, " these shoes make such a 
clatter, that when I first arrived here, I frequently turned rouiid, thinking a horse 
was immediately coming upon me." 

Tourists complain sadly of the importunity and insolence of the beggars which 
swarm in the Norman towns. Strangers are continually beset by them, and are 
sometimes followed with great perseverance by eight or nine at a time, many of 
them displaying shocking personal distortions, deformities, and defects. Mrs. 
Stothard says at one place : "When we were going into the court-yard of an inn at 
Magny, in our road to Paris, the doorway was filled with mendicants ; one man, a 
most dreadful deformity of nature, was seated upon an ass, begging of every person 
that passed by. Frequently has the stump of a hand been actually thrust in my 
face. A beggar once seized me by the arm, demanding money, and was ascending 
the stairs to follow me into my chamber, till I got rid of her by yielding a trifle to 
her importunity, with which she seemed dissatisfied, because it was not a franc." It 
is much the same even while travelling on the road. The beggars station them- 
selves upon the side of every hill ; and the most interesting and agreeable of the 
ways in which they announce their object, is by throwing a nosegay into the car- 
riage. There is, however, no lack of more urgent applications. If the stranger is 
not moved by the plaintive tone with which they utter, "A small charity, if you 
please, ladies and gentlemen," he is attacked on the side of his devotion, and is inun- 
dated by a shower of paternosters, creeds, and Ave Marias, which fall upon him 
with the utmost velocity. Should all this prove ineffectual, wishes for the health and 
welfare of the assailed party, and for their safe and prosperous journey, are then 
essayed. They go through all this, according to Mr. Turner, " with an earnestness 
and pertinacity almost inconceivable, whatever rebuffs they may receive. Their 
good-temper, too, is undisturbed, and their face is generally as piteous as their lan- 
guage and tone ; though every now and then a laugh will out, and that probably 
when they are telling you that they are ' petiis miserables, pauvres petits malheureux, 
qui n'ont ni pere ni mere.^ With all this, they are excellent flatterers. An English- 
man is sure to be ' milord,'' and a lady to be ' ma helle duchesse,'' or ' ma belle prin- 
cesse.^ They will try, too, to please you by ' vivent les Americains P " 

It would seem that begging is practised occasionally, as a favorable opportunity 
offers, even by persons in the lower orders who do not make mendicity a profession. 
This is particularly the case with the women. Speaking of them, a lady who con- 
tributes some lively sketches to Mr. Turner's book, states that even the women who 
inhabit towns live much in the open air. Besides being employed in many servile 
offices out of doors, they sit at their doors or windows pursuing their business, or 
lounge about, watching passengers to obtain charity. " Thus," proceeds the lady, 
"their faces and necks are always of a copper color, and at an advanced age more 
dusky still ; so that for the anatomy and color of witches, a painter need look 
no further." We hope the lady is a little satirical here, and we apprehend her ob- 
servation must be limited to the lowest of the low. We can recollect that a large 
proportion of the young and middle-aged females, though bronzed, have very pleas- 
ing features ; and in the small shops and elsewhere, women that are decidedly pretty 
may frequently be seen. Mr. Turner himself admits, in another place, that the 
young are generally pretty, though the old are tanned and ugly. He adds: "The 
transition from youth to age seems instantaneous; labor and poverty have destroyed 
every intermediate gradation ; but whether young or old, they have all the same 
good-humored look, and appear generally industrious, though almost incessantly 
talking." 

In noticing the prevalent dress among the mass of the female population, we 
should do great injustice to the subject if we allowed it to be painted by any other 
hand than that of a female. We therefore give Mrs. Stothard's account : — 

" It looks singular at the first view, but when the eye is accustomed to it, appears 
by no means unbecoming ; it generally consists of a woollen petticoat, striped Avith a 
variety of colors, as red, blue, &c. ; an apron also of red or blue. The jacket of the 
gown is most commonly made of marone, white, black, or red worsted ; the long 
sleeves of which being sometimes, perhaps, of marone so far as the elbow, and the 
lower half of a scarlet color. A little shawl (white or colored) with a fringe round 
it, pinned in plaits upon the back, covers the shoulders. The head-dress, called the 
hourgoin, is the most remarkable and conspicuous part of their attire. It is formed 
of white, stiffly-starched muslin, that covers a pasteboard shape, and rises a great 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




Norman Fruit- Woman. 

height above the head, frequently diminishing in size toward the top, where it fin- 
ishes in a circular form ; two long lappets depend from either side toward the back, 
and these are often composed of the finest lace. Some of the women have a piece 
of velvet, which fastens their head-dress under the chin, and others a riband, that 
crosses the forehead from the cap. Several women, on Sundays or holydays, appear 
clothed entirely in white instead of this costume ; but they still retain their hour' 
gain, which, on such occasions is always composed of fine muslin and lace." 

To this we should add that pockets of a different dye are usually attached to the 
outside, of the petticoat, and the appendage of a key or corkscrew may often be per- 
ceived. Large silver or gilt ornaments (usually crosses) are also suspended round 
their necks, while long gold earrings drop from either side of their head, and their 
shoes often glitter with enormous paste buckles. It must, indeed, be understood that 
the dress is by no means restricted to the lower or even middle classes, but is still 
preferred, or at least a modification of it, by many females in the higher walks of life. 
Speaking of it, Mr. Turner says that there is a manifest resemblance between it and 
the attire of the women of England in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This is 
particularly apparent in that species of the bourgoin which forms part of the grand 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



97 




'S .<; 



Norman Peasant. 

costume of a Norman woman, the very prototype of which may be found in Strutt's 
I' Ancient Dresses." " Decorated with silver before and with lace streaming' behind 
It towers on the head of the stiff-necked complacent wearer, whose looks appear 
beneath, arrayed with statuary precision. Nor is its antiquity solely confined to its 
form and fashion ; for, descending from the great-grandmother to the great-grand- 
daughter, It remains as an heirloom in the family, from generation to generation." 

We can not well conclude this notice of Norman c6stume without bestowing a 
few words on the fishermen of Pollet, a suburb of Dieppe, the following particulars 
concerning whom, are derived from a passage which is given by Mr. Dawson Tur- 
ner as a translation from a French history of Dieppe. 

Three fourths of the natives of Pollet are fishermen, who are no less distinguished 
from the mass of the citizens by their name of Poltese (taken from their place of 
residence), than by the difference in their dress and language, the simplicity of their 
manners, and the narrow extent of their acquirements. To the present day, they 
continue to wear the same dress as in the sixteenth century. This consists of trou- 



98 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

sers covered with short, wide petticoats, which open in the middle to afford room for 
the legs to move, and woollen waistcoats, laced in the front with ribands, and tucked 
below, into the waistband of their trousers. Over these waistcoats is a loose coat, 
without buttons or fastenings of any kind, which falls so low as not only to cover 
their petticoats, but extends a foot or more beyond them. These articles are usually 
of cloth or serge, of a uniform color, and either red or blue ; for they allow no 
other variation, except that all the seams of their dress are faced with white silk 
galloon, about an inch in width. To complete the whole, instead of hats, they wear 
on their heads caps of velvet or colored cloth, forming altogether a dress which, 
while it is evidently ancient, is in a considerable degree pleasing and picturesque. 
Thus clad, the Poltese have the appearance of a distinct and foreign colony ; while, 
continually occupied in fishing, they have had no share in the changes and extended 
civilization which circumstances and the lapse of time have diffused over France. 
They are indeed scarcely acquainted with four hundred words of the French lan- 
guage, and these they pronounce with an idiom exclusively their own, adding to 
each an oath, by way of epithet, a habit so inveterate with them, that even at con- 
fession, at the moment of seeking absolution for the practice, it is no uncommon 
thing with them to swear that they will be guilty of it no more. To balance, how- 
ever, this vice, their morals are uncorrupled, their fidelity is exemplary, and they 
are laborious and charitable, and zealous for the honor of their country, and equally 
so in behalf of their priests, in defence of whom they once threatened to throw the 
archbishop of Rouen into the river, and. were well nigh executing their threats. 

The Abbey of La Trafpe is situated thirty-four leagues northwest of Paris, in a 
valley of Normandy. It was founded in 1140, and derived its name from its imper- 
vious situation. It was not approached by any regular path ; and being placed in 
the gloomiest recesses of a deep wood, its access was difficult, and almost impos- 
sible, to a stranger. The conduct of the monks in the sixteenth century procured 
them the appellation of the "Bandits of La Trappe," and we may, therefore, read- 
ily suppose that all the energy and perseverance of De Ranee were required to effect 
their reformation. At the Revolution the Trappists were compelled to leave France ; 
but at the Restoration their religious houses were restored to them, and they now 
possess several establishments in that country. There exists, also, a female convent, 
in which the poverty, the mortifications, and labors, of the order, are strictly en- 
joined and practised. In their convent tio sound of social intercourse is heard 
beyond the salutation, "Memento mori !" (Remember death). No news from the 
busy world reaches the inmates. Death and works of penitence alone occupy their 
thoughts; and each day, we believe, they are accustomed to scoop out a portion of 
their last narrow resting-place. 

A traveller who visited, a few years ago, one of the establishments of the order 
in France, in the department of the Landes, has written an interesting description 
of its appearance, and the habits of the brotherhood. The " Landes" is the name 
given to a vast, uncultivated wilderness, in the south of France, on the confines of 
which the convent was situated. For some miles before reaching it, the way passed 
through a sort of composite country, made up of woods and thickets, enlivened here 
and there by small green glades, where springs, or splashes of rain-water, had 
coaxed up the scanty vegetation ; or where some more vigorous pine-tree, peering 
above its neighbors, had bereft them of their fair portion of light and air, and thus 
created a space in which it reigned pre-eminently picturesque, with many a naked 
and sapless branch contrasted with the masses of its dusky foliage. Emerging 
thence, the eye rested on the boundless horizon of Les Landes ; on which, like 
gigantic cranes, or herons, in the distance, shepherds were seen, in the costume of 
the country, stalking about on elevated stilts. At length, on a small piece of com- 
mon ground, appeared a low wall, surrounding a comfortless, dilapidated-looking 
structure, comprising the convent and out-buildings. Universal stillness reigned 
around, interrupted only by the tinkling oi" the porter's bell, aimouncing to the 
inmates the approach of strangers. No bustling footsteps, no hum of voices, beto- 
kened an immediate answer to the summons ; but in process of time the visiters 
espied, through a chink in the door-way, a figure descending a flight of steps, and 
approaching slowly, with his head bent toward the earth, across a spacious court, 
half overgrown with weeds and rank grass. At length the key grated in the lock, 
and the gates, turning upon their hinges with a corresponding solemnity, admitted 
the party, before whom the figure they had seen prostrated himself; after which, on 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 




The Porter of a Convent of La Trappe, in Normandy. 

requesting an audience with his superior, he bowed consent, and slowly wavins? an 
arm terminating in a bundle of emaciated and bony fingers, silently led the wav 
As mass was being performed, the visiters were directed to a small chapel, in whi^ 
the whole community was assembled, consisting of about half a dozen monks in 
dark-brown robes and cowls, a few noviciates in white woollen vestments, and three 
m black, who were temporary boarders on a penitentiary visit. The walls of the 
chapel were simply whitewashed, and the wood-work was unpainted : it was almost 
a caricature of simplicity. The superior was kneeling at an altar, nearly as prim- 
itive as the rest of the structure, and for a time there appeared no prospect of cora- 
mg in contact with him. All and everything was noiseless and motionless ; lips 
spake not, eyes looked not, hands stirred not ; when, lo ! in an instant, the dead 
silence was broken by a torrent of words, streaming forth from the superior's mouth 
with a garrulous rapidity, equally monotonous and unintelligible, and as if the 
tongue had no other object in its vibrations than to make the most of its brief mo- 
ments of liberty. Of the nature, language, or meaning, of this burst of articulation, 
no idea could be formed ; and they waited patiently till, having run itself down, 
like the rattle of an alarum clock, it stopped. Silence again ensued for a short 
tune, when- the service ceased, and the noiseless congregation by degrees dropped 



100 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



off. While waiting for an opportunity of introducing themselves to the chief, our 
travellers followed two or three of the brothers into a small room, and ventured 
upon a few questions, to which no answers were given, though they were evidently 
disconcerted, and each eyed and pointed to the other, as a hint that the individual 
thus designated should be the spokesman. Not unwilling to press for an unneces- 
sary infringement of the rules, they retired, and fortunately met another, whose 
scruples were not so insuperable ; but his speech Avas so measured and vague, that 
it might be admitted a doubt whether he was in actual possession of either his wits 
or words. Having apologized for the intrusion, the threadbare state of his raiment, 
and certain other causes, which rendered a windward position with respect to his 
person preferable to what sailors would denominate " hugging him under his lee," 
led to a question or two relative to change of linen and cleanliness: "Apparently 
you are not accustomed to change your dress ?" — " Never, never," was the answer, 
in a draAvling, sepulchral tone. " Apparently, also, you never wash yourselves ?" — 
-" Never, never," he said again ; and certainly, as far as his externals went, there 
was symptomatic evidence of his speaking the truth, the whole truth, and nothing 
but the truth, though the party were subsequently assured by the superior that an 
under-garment (which or what garment could not be ascertained) was changed 
once a week, and that washing was not a prohibited luxury. 

The superior himself was a Spaniard by birth, and, judging from his countenance 




A Monk of La Trappe at his Devotions. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 101 

and manner, a second Loyola in character. He was enthusiastic, of course, but 
shrewd and intelligent, and full of energy, and it was evident he had within him 
wherewithal to play a conspicuous part in the scene of life, had he been brought up 
under more favorable circumstances. 

From a copy of the rules which the travellers saw, it appeared that the hour of 
rising, in both winter and summer, was half-past one o'clock, and, on certain speci- 
fied days, at midnight; to which is added the incomparable luxury of sitting bolt 
upright for several successive hours on a hard-bottomed bench. The diet consisted 
of roots and vegetables, rice, and a few similar articles, but never either of fish or 
eggs, and cheese and milk only on rare occasions. Three hours' daily labor was 
required of each member. The^vow of obedience is so strictly enforced, that in no 
case is it even permitted to an innocent party to exculpate himself from any fault 
with which he may be unjustly charged. If indisposed, and required to take med- 
icine, the sick man must at once swallow the draught which is presented to him, as 
the exhibition of a preference for any particular medicament is considered a mark 
of sensual indulgence, and in point of sinfulness ranked with the desire to partake 
of meat, to vary the accustomed regimen of the order, or the hour a' which it is 
usual to serve up their repasts. Notwithstanding the apparent abse xe of tempta- 
tion which there must be in such a place, there is, nevertheless, a rule prohibiting 
any admission into the kitchen. The comforts of the fireside may be enjoyed under 
some restrictions and prohibitions. Shoes or slippers, however, must not be taken 
oflT for the purpose of quickening the circulation in a pair of frozen extremities, and 
the fire is to be kept at a respectful distance. All social ties must be dissolved on 
entering the convent-walls, friendship being termed " a pagan virtue ;" and in rela- 
tion to social intercourse it is observed, one of the greatest obstacles to the judicious 
employment of time is the habit of paying and receiving visits; and the rule which 
prohibits the brethren visiting each other in their respective cells is lauded as a 
peculiar specimen of wisdom. The intellectual gratifications, which it might be 
imagined would be liberally encouraged, are not less circumscribed than the sphere 
of their bodily enjoyments. The library was of the most meager description ; but 
yet no book could be obtained from it without the sanction of the superior, whose 
liberality in this respect was not very freely exercised. The rules observe that 
nothing is more pernicious than the perusal of works which are not inspired by the 
Holy Ghost, and that one of the deplorable abuses of the age is the practice of 
making use of profane works in the education of youth. The only visible approach 
to utility in connexion with the establishment was a school, in which. a few little 
children were taught the use of their mother-tongue by one of the order. 

The following appropriate reflections conclude the account from which we have 
borrowed the foregoing details : " My heart sickened as I turned away from the con- 
vent-gate, and pondered on the melancholy mummery and strange unsuitable garb 
in which religion, the greatest boorf of God to man, is so often arrayed ! and by 
those, too, whose duty and profession it more peculiarly is to invest it with attract- 
ive rather than repellant qualities ! And yet I parted from these monks with min- 
gled feelings of regret and respect for men who, with such palpable sincerity, sac- 
rificed so much of the present to the future ; with ail their faults I could not but 
respect them still." 

The castle of Arques is situated in the immediate neighborhood of the small 
town and river of that name, in the department of Seine Inferieure, in Normandy. 
The population of the town is very small, and its trade, principally in oxen and 
horses, insignificant. The river, the source of which is above St. Saens, throws 
itself into the ocean at Dieppe, after a course of about eleven leagues in length. 
The forest of Arques is about one league long, and a quarter of a league broad. 
The castle stands upon a very bold site, crowning, as it does, the extreme ridge of a 
line of chalk-hills of considerable height, which commence in the west of Dieppe, 
and terminate here. It is surrounded by a wide and deep fosse. The outline of the 
fortress is that of an irregular oval, varied by towers of uncertain shape, placed at 
unequal distances. Two piers only of the drawbridge remain, and three successive 
arches of the gateway, which, however, now look like great shapeless rents. The 
towers are of immense size and strength. Those at the entrance and those nearest 
to the north and south extremities are considerably larger than the others. One 
of the lateral towers is of a very unusual form. The architect appears to have 
intended originally to make it circular, but changing his design in the middle of his 



102 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

work, attached to it a triangular appendage, probably by way of a bastion. Three 
other towers adjoining this are square, and look rather like buttresses than towers. 
The walls have been covered in most parts with a facing of brick, but which, now 
worn or broken away, exhibits beneath either rubble or a construction of alternate 
layers of brick and flint disposed with all the regularity of Roman workmanship, 
the bricks, too, having strongly the characteristics of Roman manufacture. The 
castle is internally divided into two wards. The first and outer one is everywhere 
rough with the remains of foundations ; the second and inner ward, which is by far 
the largest, is approached by a square gate-house, with high embattled walls, and 
contains, toward its farther end, the quadrangular keep, the shell of which is alone 
standing. The walls of this shell are of immense height, and in their perfect state " 
were carefully faced with large square stones, mos* of which have been torn away. 
The vaults beneath the castle are very spacious, and may still be traversed for a con- 
siderable distance. From this description the general grandeur of the appearance 
of this noble ruin may be partly comprehended; and although it is now evidently 
abandoned to the ravages of time, wind, and weather, its mouldering walls and tow- 
ers may yet remain for centuries to attest the grandeur that has departed. 

Antiquariais suppose a castle to have been founded little posterior to the Christian 
^a, and upon the site of an earlier Roman fortress. If so, that, as well as the Ro- 
man, must have disappeared, for William, an illegitimate son of the fourth duke of 
Normandy, built the present castle, and was created count of Arques. This same 
nobleman, about 1055, during the reign of William VII., duke of Normandy, since 
so popularly known under the name of the " Conqueror," assumed the title of duke, 
and fortified various castles, among others that of Arques. The rightful duke sum- 
moned his refractory vassal to return to his allegiance, but received so insulting an 
answer, that he immediately set out to attack him in the castle of Arques. Owing 
to the immense strength of the fortress, the duke saw that it would be easiest to 
reduce it by famine. He therefore caused entrenchments to be dug around the castle, 
and then left the prosecution of the siege to Gifi'ard, count of Longueville, leaving 
the strictest command against the admission of succors to the garrison. The count 
had been abetted in this revolt by Henry, king of France, to whom, therefore, he 
sent an account of his deplorable position. Henry instantly assembled troops and 
marched to its relief. Giffard, hearing of his approach, placed a strong ambuscade 
in a wood through which the French must pass, and then sent forAvard a small body 
of horsemen with the apparent intention of disputing the way. The French sol- 
diers rushed hastily upon this band, which retreated, followed by its enemy into the 
very heart of the ambush. In an instant the concealed Normans poured forth, and 
committed the most terrible slaughter upon their surprised foes. Henry, however, 
succeeded in throwing succors into the castle, and then attacked Giffard in his 
entrenchments. The attack was unsuccessful, and Henry returned to France. The 
duke, hearing of what had been done, was exti^mely exasperated, and immediately 
returned to the command, swearing he would not quit it till the count and the castle 
were in his power. The garrison was at last reduced to such distress, that the 
count, throwing himself upon the generosity of his relative, asked only for the lives 
oThis adherents and himself, which being granted, the fortress was surrendered. 
When the duke saw the miserable appearance of the prisoners, he was touched 
with pity, and at once pardoned the whole ; the count in particular he treated with 
kindness and affection, although he was afterward obliged to banish him from his 
dominions. In 1149 Arques was besieged by Eustace of Boulogne, who claimed the 
duchy of Normandy, the castle being then in the possession of Geoffrey, earl of 
Anjou. The siege, however, was raised shortly after, in consequence of a treaty. 
During the wars between Richard II. Cceur-de-Lion, duke of Normandy, and Philip 
of France, Arques appears to have been alternately possessed by both ; at the treaty 
of 1196 it was left in possession of the former, as duke of Normandy. In 1449 the 
Knglish duke of Somerset, being besieged in Rouen by the king of France, surren- 
dered on certain conditions, giving up, at the same time, the castle of Arques, 
among others, to the French. But the great historical circumstance which has 
given an imperishable interest to the name of Arques, is the battle fought here in 
1589, between the popular Henri IV. of France and the duke of Mayence, the chief 
of the League. 

Toward the close of the year the king came with a small party and posted him- 
self before the castle of Arques, resolved to resist the progress of the army of the 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



103 




104 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Leaguers to the last extremity. On examining the ground, Henry found at the end 
of the causeway of Arques a long winding hill, covered with coppice. Beneath was 
a space of arable land, through which ran the great road to Arques, having thick 
hedges on each side. Lower down, upon the left hand, there was a great piece of 
marsh or boggy ground. 

A village called Martinglise bounded the hill about half a league from the cause- 
way. In and around that village was the whole army of the duke of Mayenne en- 
camped. The king saw, that by attempting to resist an army of 30,000 men with 
less than 4,000, his conduct would be charged with rashness ; but besides that it 
would be very difficult to find a place more favorable for his few troops, and that 
there was danger in going back, he thought that the present weak condition of his 
party demanded some bold stroke. He determined therefore to fight, and accord- 
ingly neglected no precaution that might compensate in some degree for the small- 
ness of his forces. He ordered deep trenches to be cut along the causeway, and 
above as well as beneath the great road. He posted 1,200 Swiss on the sides of the 
road, and 600 German foot to defend the upper trenches, and placed 1,000 or 1,200 
others in a chapel he found between the upper and lower trenches. These were all 
the infantry he had. His cavalry, amounting in all to but 600, he divided into two 
equal parties, and with one posted himself between the wood and the road, while 
the other he separated into platoons, and sent them down into the space between the 
road and the marsh. He slept not the whole night, for, fearing the enemy would 
attempt to make himself master of the causeway during the darkness, he kept guard 
there himself. In the morning he took some refreshments in the ditch, and invited 
his principal officers to breakfast with him. The meal was scarcely over, when he 
was informed by his guards that the army of the League was marching toward him 
in order of battle. He now sent a detachment into the wood, to endeavor to make 
some prisoners, which soon returned with the Count de Belin. The king went to meet 
him, and embraced him, smiling. The count, whose eyes were in search of the king^s 
army, expressed his surprise at the small number that seemed to be with him. " You 
do not see all," said Henry, with considerable animation, " for you reckon not God 
and my claim, who fight for me." At this eventful moment, "I could not help," 
says Sully, " admiring the tranquillity that sat upon his countenance, on an occasion 
so much the more desperate, as it gave time for reflection. His air was so serene, 
and his ardor tempered with so much prudence, that he appeared to the soldiers to 
tower above humanity, and inspired them all with the intrepidity of their leader." 
The duke of Mayenne ordered the upper trenches to be attacked by a squadron of 
his German foot, who pretended to refuse fighting because they had only Germans 
to encounter, and whose motions intimated a desire to surrender. The Germans in 
Henry's army were so effectually misled by this artifice, that they suff'ered the others 
to advance and gain the trench, when they were undeceived by being instantly at- 
tacked and driven out. From this position the Leaguers then caused Henry's army 
considerable annoyance. A squadron of 800 or 900 horse now advanced toward the 
marsh where Sully was posted, who could only collect together 150 horse to oppose 
its progress, with which, however, he drove it back into the valley. 

Fresh reinforcements on both sides caused success to alternate from one to the other 
in this part of the field, till Sully was ultimately overpowered by numbers and driven 
back to the chapel, where other troops were posted, and where a sanguinary engage- 
ment took place. The duke now commanded all the rest of his German foot to at- 
tack the chapel, which was then yielded, as were also the hollows in the road, and 
at last the road itself. The Swiss battalion now interposed, and withstood the pur- 
suers' shock with such valor and fortitude, as to enable the retreating troops to rally 
and join again in the battle. The duke then ordered 500 horse to march along the 
side of the marsh, and take Henry's army in the rear, which must then have been 
overwhelmed, but the advancing horse, approaching too near to the marsh, became 
entangled in the mire, and were with great difficulty disengaged. The battle con- 
tinued for some time in this state, until at length the king's small but heroic band 
became worn out with fatigue. On his side the same troops continued to sustain the 
action, while on the duke's fresh supplies were every moment pouring in. Still, every 
man of Henry's army " gave proofs of a valor scarcely credible." A thick fog had 
hitherto partially concealed the armies from each other ; this suddenly clearing off, 
showed the entire army of the duke bearing down upon Henry's, which, it would 
seem, must now have been overwhelmed, but for the very circumstances which ex- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



105 




106 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

hibited and apparently enhanced the danger. The fog had hitherto rendered the 
cannon of the castle useless, but no sooner was the army of the Leaguers distinctly 
visible to the garrison, than the pieces, only four in number, were discharged with 
such terrible effect as to throw the Leaguers into confusion. Four other volleys suc- 
ceeded with the greatest rapidity, and with similarly destructive results. The 
Leaguers wavered, and at last, unable to endure the fire, retired in disorder to the 
side of the valley, behind which all the immense multitudes disappeared in a few 
moments, astonished, without doubt, at the great loss they had sustained, and utterly 
disheartened by a resistance they had so little anticipated. And thus ended the battle 
of Arques, which in a great measure fixed Henry IV., the most popular of French 
monarchs, on his throne. Other engagements ensued ; the king received assistance 
from Queen Elizabeth, of England ; and in 1593 the League was virtually broken 
up, after some preliminary negotiations, by the king's public profession of the catholic 
faith — an act which did not deprive his protestant subjects of a sincere and valued 
friend. 



CHAPTER v.— FRANCE. 

Rouen is an ancient city in the north of France, and the capital of the department 
of the Lower Seine. It stands on the right bank of the river Seine, and is by far the 
most interesting city on the banks of that river. The surrounding country is fertile 
and agreeable. It presents a very imposing appearance ; but the interior of the city 
does not correspond with its external beauty. Almost all the houses are built of 
wood, with each story projecting over the one below it, until their pointed roofs nearly 
meet from the opposite sides of the narrow, crooked streets, into which, under such 
circumstances, light and sunshine make but feeble inroads. The door-posts, window- 
frames, beam-ends, and wood-work, with which the fronts of almost every building 
are chequered and intersected, are frequently ornamented with rich carving, gro- 
tesque heads, flowers, and other fanciful devices. At every turning, some relic of 
antiquity, a pointed arch, the mutilated statue of some saint, or a Gothic fountain, 
strikes the eye ; while the mouldering magnificence of the cathedral, churches, Pa- 
lais de Justice, and other public edifices, carries the imagination four or five centu- 
ries back in the history of society. The demolition of the ancient fortifications and 
castles which defended the approach to the city, is, perhaps, the only innovation of 
modern times. They have been replaced by boulevards, or broad avenues of trees, 
forming stately promenades or vestibules of verdure, which have, however, like most 
things stately, something of stiffness and monotony. Among the public edifices of 
Rouen, the cathedral is pre-eminent. It is said to have been founded as early as 260, 
to have been enlarged by St. Romanus in 623, and afterward by Archbishop Robert, 
first duke of Normandy, in 942, until it was raised to its present splendor by arch- 
bishop Maurillus, in 1063. Its superb facade is terminated by two lofty towers. 
That on the right hand is said to have been first built by St. Romanus, but completed 
in its present style by Cardinal d'Amboise, in 1482, who also built the tower on the 
left of the facade, called the Butter tower, because it is reported to have been raised 
with the money collected from the sale of indulgences to eat butter during Lent. 
This second tower is a beautiful specimen of the most elaborate Gothic ; it is ter- 
minated by a flat roof, surrounded by balustrades of stone, and adorned with rich 
Gothic pinnacles, which give it the appearance, at a distance, of being surmounted 
by a rich crown. The other tower is also terminated, in its upper story, by pinna- 
cles at each corner and face, four of which, on each side, bear colossal statues, the 
whole being surmounted by a grotesque pyramidal spire. The space between these 
towers is again divided by four pinnacles of the richest and most delicate sculpture, 
which crown, like eastern minarets, the centre of the fapade and portal. The latter 
consists of three entrances, of which the two lateral are richly sculptured. The 
central doors are carved, and surmounted by a basso-relievo, representing the genea- 
logical tree of " the root of Jesse." The pointed arch of the porch is adorned with 
three bands of images, in alto-relievo, each figure standing beneath a Gothic taber- 
nacle. This central entrance has a pyramidal pediment, carved, and containing a 
large dial. It is also flanked by two graceful pinnacles, one of which is in part de- 
cayed, toward the bases of which are niches, filled with the colossal images of saints 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



107 



and bishops. But this is a feeble effort to portray forms of sculpture too rich and 
complicated to be adequately expressed by words. The artist's pencil can alowe do 
justice to the architect's conceptions. The whole interior length of the edifice is 
five hundred and eight feet ; the nave is eighty-three feet across, and is divided into 
three aisles ; of these, the central is flanked by ten clustered columns, which are cut 
by an arcade surrounding the whole building. The lateral aisles are lower than the 
central, and have each eight chapels on either side. The transept is one hundred 
and fifty feet from one side entrance to the other. Four massive columns, each con- 
sisting of a cluster of thirty-one smaller pillars, support the principal tower, which 
rjses to the height of three hundred and eighty feet, and is terminated by a lofty 
spire bearing a cross, on the top of which is a weathercock. The choir is separated 
from the lateral aisles by fourteen plain columns, with capitals of leaves. These 
originally resembled the clustered columns of the nave, but were pared away to let 
in more light ; an alteration by which the effect of the perspective is much injured. 
Another blemish is the screen of the choir, which, like that of Winchester cathe- 
dral, is a piece of modern architecture, ornamented with Corinthian columns, altars, 
and statues, all in the modern taste. The lateral aisles which surround the choir, 
terminate in the chapel of the Virgin, which contains some of the most interesting 
objects in the cathedral. Near the altar is the monument of the cardinals d'Am- 
boise, uncle and nephew, both archbishops of Rouen. It is of white marble, and 
was completed in 1522. It consists of a fiat tomb, on which the two cardinals are 
kneeling in their robes ; both these figures are very finely sculptured. Above their 
heads, an image of St. George on horseback adorns the richly-fretted canopy-which 
arches the mausoleum. The face of the tomb is enriched with small statues of 
white marble, representing the many virtues of the two prelates, the elder of whom 
was ininister to Louis XII., and boasted of holding but one benefice, though, as Vol« 
taire justly observes, " the kingdom of France stood him instead of a second." 




West Front of the Cathedral of Boaen. 



108 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN* . 

Another monument, on the opposite side of the chapel, equally remarkable for the 
beaaty of its sculpture, is that of the grand senechal de Breze, governor of Rouen, 
who died in 1531. His undraped effigy, in black marble, lies upon a tomb, sup 
ported by four Corinthian columns, on the face of which he is again represented on 
horseback, in complete armor. On either side are two females, one of whom is sup- 
posed to represent his wife, at whose expense the monument is said to have been 
erected. Above the entablature are four allegorical figures of Prudence, Glory, 
Victory, and Faith. 

These monuments deserve attention, not only from the merit of their execution, 
but also as curious specimens of the style of sculpture which, toward the end of the 
reign of Louis XH., and during that of Francis I., connected the Gothic with the 
revived Grecian, by a mixture of the faults and beauties of both. TJius, warriors 
and prelates were raised from their recumbent to a kneeling or erect position ; alle- 
gorical personifications, borrowed from pagan mythology, began to figure as their 
attendants ; and undraped exhibitions of the human body were frequently substi- 
tuted for those exact imitations of costume and armor peculiar to foregoing periods ; 
the various orders of architecture were mixed with Gothic pinnacles and niches ; and 
the final result began to have that inappropriateness which is commonly the conse- 
quence of imitation. Besides these two monuments, the chapel of the Virgin for- 
merly contained the Gothic tombs of the archbishops of Rouen, each of whom lay 
in his episcopal robes and ornaments ; but they have been all demolished recently. 
The sites of the tombs of Coeur de Lion, of his brother Henry, and Queen Eleanor, 
are marked by inscriptions on the pavement, which merely record their names and 
burial ; but the simple name of "Ricardi Cor Leonis dicti," supersedes the neces- 
sity of a more splendid epitaph. Behind the choir an inscription marks the burial- 
place of John, duke of Bedford, who died at the chateau of Rouen in 1435, 

In the chapel of the southern transept is the tomb of Rollo, first duke of Nor- 
mandy. His effigy, in a recumbent posture, is of stone, colored ; the feet are broken 
off, and seem to have been made of plaster. He wears a long robe, with open 
sleeves, fastened with a brooch on one shoulder. His countenance has a cast of 
effeminacy, little suited to a captain of pirates. The inscription tells us that the 
monument was placed in its present situation by Archbishop Maurillus, when he 
repaired the church, and who, as well as William Longsword, the son and successor 
of Rollo, have their tombs in it. 

The abbey of St. Ouen was founded by Clotaire I., and rebuilt by Richard, duke 
of Normandy.; it is now, however, re-edified, and since the revolution, has been 
converted into an hotel de ville, museum, and public library. The church was 
completed, as it stands at present, in 1319, by John Roussel, surnamed Silvermark, 
the twenty-third abbot. The facade was never finished ; but a lofty tower rises 
above the transept, and terminates in a number of pinnacles, in the fashion of a ra- 
diated coronet. The interior is a model of Gothic eflfect ; the walls retain their 
venerable gray ; the light, streaming with dim richness through " storied pane," 
falls upon unbroken ranges of clustering columns and pointed arches of the most 
delicate symmetry ; the eye strains dovm the depth of " long-drawn aisles," which, 
as they recede round the choir, seem of an indefinite extent, while the splendid win- 
dows of " Our Lady's Chapel," which forms the eastern extremity of the edifice, 
give the termination of the prospect the radiant, yet awful, appearance of a sanctuary 

" In which a God might dv«Jpll." 

The church of St. Maclou is a Gothic edifice, remarkable for its superb portals, 
especially that toward the Rue Martainville. They were sculptured in the reign of 
Henry III., either by the hands of the celebrated John Goujon, or under his direc- 
tion. The detail, delicacy, and precision of the innumerable figures, and other orna- 
ments, are truly astonishing. The church of St. Vincent is an elegant Gothic struc- 
ture, enriched with windows of the most brilliant colors, but defaced in parts by the 
modern barbarism of French taste. Besides these churches, several others, little 
inferior to them in architectural magnificence, are either walled up, or converted 
into stables and warehouses. 

The Palais de Justice, in which the ancient parliament of Normandy held its sit- 
tings, was finished in 1499. It consists of a quadrangle, surrounded on three sides 
by buildings of various dates and orders ; an embattled wall, with two antique gates, 
closes it toward the street. Several ffights of steps conduct to the Salle des Procu- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



109 





i 




1 




• ■ II 


II 


^^^^B 


I^Mll 


ffiH|Bw|roM|| 


— 1 


Hh 




11 

\m 


IIP 





- '-. m 


t==:^n;:rTj^_ 


^=r^:-L 




^--^^^mmmmmmmmim. 


■L--- 






1 


li'A 


m 


k% i'litii 


ffii 

fl'l 

Irfi 

ifl 


1 


1 II" 
i II'" 
1'' 

i ' 
5 M ^^ 


m 

HHi 


m ill f'i' 


( VI 


^ 1 m^raB^m}S*. 


\\ 


IMmm 


1 


W A^^^^ 


1 


If 

1 

1 1 
i 1 


11 

1* mi! 

in 


-fflR' 


■lit 
Mi 

||UmI|nU' 


1 cA 






■pi 


lift 


i i 


™if! 


11 

ifii 




11 


1 




11 


In i 


1 11 


1 i 1 i 


Piiiiiinii J 

fflilj limSf 

II. 


S 




^■Wj 


■ 1 


M 


If 


liiiPRMvi il 


II 


fl 1^ 


1 j| 


i^SlH 


1 






— . oiM r|| 


i IE 4111 




^^^Ss 






jm 








^^^^^^1^^^^ 






iVI— -^ 1 




■ 


North Side of 


the Ch 


arch of Mac 


eu. 




■^ 



110 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

reurs, a Gothic room, one hundred and seventy feet long, and fifty feet broad. Its 
wooden roof resembles the inverted hull of a ship, and its whole style and appear- 
ance somewhat resemble Westminster Hall, to which it answers not less in its use 
and arrangements, than in its architectural features. 

The Maid of Orleans. — The stranger's first impulse, when he arrives at Rouen, 
is to inquire for some monument of Jeanne d'Arc, the heroic Maid of Orleans ; he 
is directed to the Place de la Pucelle a market-place surrounded by ancient edifices, 
and having a fountain in its centre, crowned with her statue, by Peter Stodts, 
The 6th of January is said to be the birthday of this extraordinary person, whose 
exploits form one of the most brilliant adventures in modem history. She was the 
daughter of Jacques d'Arc, a peasant residing in the village of Domremy, then sit- 
uated on the western border of the territory of Lorraine, but now comprehended 
within the department of the Meuse, in the northeastern corner of France. Here 
she was born, according to one account, in 1402, according to another, in 1412, 
while other authorities give 1410 as the year. She was one of a family of three 
sons and two daughters, all of whom were bred to the humble or menial occupations 
suitable to the condition of their parents. Jeanne, whose education did not enable her 
even to write her own name, adopted, at first, the business of a sempstress and 
spinster ; but after some time she left her father's house, and hired herself as ser- 
vant at an inn in the neighboring town of Neufchateau. Here she remained for five 
years. From her childhood she had been a girl of a rfemarkably ardent and 
imaginative cast of mind. Possessed of great beauty, and formed, both by her per- 
sonal attractions and by the gentleness of her disposition and manners, to be the 
delight of all with whom she associated, she yet took but little interest either in the 
amusements of those of her own age, or in any of the ordinary occurrences of life. 
Her first, and for many years the all-absorbing passion, was religion. Before she 
left her native village, most of her leisure hours were spent in the recesses of a for- 
est in the neighborhood. Here she conversed not only with her own spirit, hut in 
imagination, also, with the saints and angels, till the dreams of her excited fancy 
assumed the distinctness of reality. She believed that she heard with her ears 
voices from Heaven ; the archangel Michael, the angel Gabriel, Saint Catherine 
and Saint Margaret — all seemed at different times to address her audibly. In al? 
this there is nothing inexplicable, or even uncommon. The state of mind described 
has been in every age a frequent result of devotional enthusiasm. 

After some time another strong sentiment came to share her aS'ections with 
religion — that of patriotism. The state of France, with which Lorraine, though 
not incorporated, was intimately connected, was at that period deplorable in the 
extreme. A foreign power, England, claimed the sovereignty of the kingdom, was 
in actual possession of the greater part of it, and had garrisons established in 
nearly all the considerable towns. The duke of Bedford, one of the uncles of Hen- 
ry VL, the king of England, resided in Paris, and there governed the country as 
regent, in the name of his young nephew. The duke of Burgundy, the most pow- 
erful vassal of the crown, had become the ally and supporter of this foreign domina- 
tion. Charles VH., the legitimate heir of the throne, and decidedly the object of 
the national attachment, was a fugitive, confined to a narrow corner of the kingdom, 
and losing every day some portion of his remaining resources. These events made 
a great impression upon Jeanne. The village of Domremy, it appears, was almost 
universally attached to the cause of Charles. In her eyes, especially, it was the 
cause of Heaven as well as of France. While she lived at Neufchateau she enjoyed 
better opportunities of learning the progress of public afi'airs. Martial feelings here 
began to mix themselves with her religious enthusiasm — a union common and nat- 
ural in those times, however incongruous it may appear in ours. Her sex, which 
excluded her from the profession of arms, seemed to her almost a degrading yoke, 
which it became her to disregard and to throw ofi". She applied herself, accordingly, 
to manly exercises, which at once invigorated her frame, and added a glow of finer 
animation to her beauty. In particular, she acquired the art of managing her 
horse with the boldness and skill of the most accomplished cavalier. 

It was on the 24th of February, 1429, that Jeanne first presented herself before 
King Charles at Chinon, a town lying a considerable distance below Orleans, on the 
south side of the Loire. She was dressed in male attire, s^nd armed from head to 
foot; and in this disguise she had travelled in company with a few individuals whom 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



Ill 




112 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

she had persuaded to attend her one hundred and fifty leagues through a country in 
possession of the enemy. She told his majesty that she came, commissioned by 
Heaven, to restore him to the throne of his ancestors. There can be little doubt 
that Charles himself, or some of his advisers, in the desperate state to which his 
affairs vpere reduced, conceived the plan of turning the pretensions of the enthusiast, 
wild as they might be deemed, to some account. Such a scheme was not near so 
unlikely to suggest itself, or so unpromising, in that age, as it would be in ours, as 
the result which followed in the present instance abundantly proves. At this time 
the town of Orleans, the principal place of strength which still held out for Charles, 
and which formed the key to the only portion of the kingdom where his sway was 
acknowledged, was pressed by the besieging forces of the English, and reduced to 
the most hopeless extremity. Some weeks were spent in various proceedings intend- 
ed to throw around the enterprise of the Maid such show of divine protection as 
might give the requisite effect to her appearance. At last, on the 29th of April, 
mounted on her white steed, and with her standard carried before her, she dashed 
forward at the head of a convoy with provisions, and in spite of all the opposition 
of the enemy forced her way into the beleaguered city. This was the beginning of 
a rapid succession of exploits which assumed the character of miracles. In a few 
sallies she drove the besiegers from every post. Nothing could stand before her 
gallantry, and the enthusiasm of those who, in following her- standard, believed that 
the invincible might of Heaven itself was leading them on. On the 8th of May the 
enemy, who had encompassed the place since the 12th of the preceding October, 
raised the siege, and retired in terror and disorder. From this date the English dom- 
ination in France withered like an uprooted tree. In a few days after followed the 
battle of Patay, when a great victory was won by the French forces under the com- 
mand of the Maid over the enemy, conducted by the brave and able Talbot. Two 
thousand five hundred of the English were left dead on the field ; and twelve hun- 
dred were taken prisoners, among whom was the general himself. Town after 
town now opened its gates to the victors, the English garrison retiring in general 
without a blow. On the 16th of July Rheims surrendered, and the following day 
Charles was solemnly consecrated and crowned in the cathedral there. Having 
now, as she said, fulfilled her mission, the Maid of Orleans petitioned her royal 
master to suffer her to return to the quiet and obscurity of her native village and her 
former condition. Charles's entreaties and commands unfortunately prevailed upon 
her to forego this resolution. Honors were now lavishly bestowed upon her. A 
medal was struck in celebration of her achievements, and letters of nobility were 
granted to herself and to every member of her family. Many gallant and success- 
ful exploits illustrate her subsequent history ; but these we can not stop to enumer- 
ate. Her end was lamentable — indelibly disgraceful to England, and hardly less so 
to France. On the 24th of May, 1430, while heroically fighting against the army of 
the duke of Burgundy, under the walls of Compeigne, she was shamefully shut out 
from the city which she was defending, through the contrivance of the governor ; 
and being left almost alone, was, after performing prodigies of valor, compelled to 
surrender to the enemy. John of Luxembourg, into whose hands she fell, some 
time after sold her for a sum often thousand livres to the duke of Bedford. She was 
then brought to Rouen, and tried on an accusation of sorcery. The contrivances 
which were resorted to in order to procure evidence of her guilt exhibit a course of 
proceedings as cruel and infamous as any recorded in the annals of judicial iniquity ; 
and on the 30th of May, 1431, she was sentenced to be burned at the stake. During 
all this time no attempt had been made by the ungrateful and worthless prince, 
whom she had restored to a throne, to effect her liberation. In the midst of her 
calamities the feminine softness of her nature resumed its .sway, and she plead 
hard that she might be allowed to live. But her protestations and entreaties were 
alike in vain ; on the following day the horrid sentence was carried into execution 
in the market-place of Rouen. The poor unhappy victim died courageously and 
nobly as she had lived ; and the name of her Redeemer was the last sound her lips 
were heard to utter from amidst the flames. 

Rheims. — This large and very ancient city of France is the capital of the depart- 
ment of Marne, in the northeast of this kingdom. It stands on the banks of the 
small river Vezele, in a plain that in itself presents few attractive features, but 
which is pleasantly limited in the distance by low hills covered with trees and vine- 
yards. The town, as seen from the declivity of these hills, presents a fine appear- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



113 




114 ■ « SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

ance, to which its taJ] and majestic cathedral not a little contributes. The form of 
the city is oblong-, extending- from southeast to northwest, and its circumference is 
about four miles and a half. It is surrounded by a mound of earth, which is bor- 
dered by parapets, and planted on both sides Avith double rows of trees. This mound 
overlooks a ditch, which is filled up in many places ; and the town is also bounded 
by a wall. These appendages are not held in any consideration with a view to the 
defence of the place, its proper fortifications having been demolished in 1812. 

Access to Rheims is furnished by six gates, all of which present a fine appearance 
through the shady avenues by which the approach is made. Two of them, tlie 
"Porte de Mars" and the "Porte de Ceres," retain their Roman names; and out- 
side the latter there is a suburb of the same name. A very considerable part of the 
large space enclosed by the walls is unoccupied by buildings, particularly toward 
the south, where there are immense gardens and spots of naked ground. The 
closely-built part, which is not one half of the space enclosed, forms a well-deter- 
mined oval, of which the square called the "Place Ptoyale" may be considered the 
centre. This "Place" is of a square form, and is, for a French square, large. It is 
furnished with some very handsome buildings, of which the most important is the 
customhouse, which occupies all the south side. In the centre of this square there 
is a fine pedestrian statue, in bronze, of Louis XV., erected in the year 1818, in the 
place of one that was thrown down and destroyed in 1793. The streets are gener- 
ally well paved, wide, and straight, with the exception of those in the northern part 
of the town, where they are nearly all very narrow and tortuous. There are three 
or four streets remarkable for their width and length ; of these, that which leads in 
a straight line across the whole width of the town, from the eastern to the western 
gate, is mentioned as the finest. The houses are generally built either with chalk- 
stone or with boards, and are covered with slates. They are seldom of more than 
one story, and many still display the Gothic gables which surmounted all the 
facades in former times. A French writer, who seems to have a strong feeling 
against gables, say's that at Ptheims they give to the streets a saddened aspect, 
which singularly harmonizes with and augments the apparent inactivity and deser- 
tion of the streets, in many of which the grass grows in abundance. The city pos- 
sesses a great number of fountains, for which it is indebted to the canon Godinot. 
One of them, near the cathedral, preserves its name, and is worthy of notice for its 
antiquity and its architecture. 

Of the public buildings of Rheims, the most remarkable, beyond all comparison, 
is the cathedi'al of Notre Dapae, which is considered one of the finest specimens of 
Gothic architecture in Europe. It is a work of the twelfth century, and, regarded 
as a whole, is an exceedingly grand and imposing structure. It is rendered still 
further remarkable as the building long dedicated to the ceremony of anointing and 
consecrating the kings of France. The length of the building is four hundred and 
■ sixty-nine feet, its width ninety-seven feet, and its height one hundred and fourteen 
feet. The west, or principal front, which is represented in our engraving, is a mag- 
nificent work, having a general resemblance to that of the church of Notre Dame 
at Paris. It has three noble entrances, ornamented with the curvature of the point- 
ed arches which compose each entrance. The front is likewise decorated with a 
mass of bas-reliefs, sculptures, and other ornaments, of the most delicate workman- 
ship. Altogether, there are between four and five thousand figures sculptured on 
the interior of this edifice, of which four or five hundred decorate the principal por- 
tal. Above the middle door there is a large circular window, with another of the 
same form above it. Each end of the principal front is surmounted by a tower, the 
height of which from the level of the ground is two hundred and sixty feet. There 
are seven flying buttresses between the transept and the end of the nave, and in 
each buttress there is a niche, or rather a recess with columns, containing a full- 
length statue. Above the buttresses, upon the top of the principal wall, there is a 
singularly light balustrade of pointed arches, which appear projected against the 
roof At the east end of the cathedral, which is circular, there are quadruple flying 
buttresses, surmounted by pinnacles. The two gates on the north side of the tran- 
sept have their fine sculptures in excellent preservation; a third gate appears to 
have been built up. The interior of this magnificent structure does not disappoint 
the expectation which the exterior is calculated to excite. There are ten noble 
Gothic columns in the nave on each side, with two windows between each column. 
The places in the roof where the groins meet are all gilt, the upper windows in 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRA'NCE. 



115 




West Front of the Cathedral at Rheims. 



116 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

the nave are most beautifully colored, and the lower part is adorned "with twelve 
pieces of tapestry. In the choir there are ten columns, six of which are circular, 
and all with beautifully- wrought capitals. The pavement of the choir is much ad- 
mired, being composed of lozenges of different kinds of marble ; it was transferred 
from the ancient church of St. Nicaise, which is no longer existing. From the same 
church was also transferred the curious tomb of F. V". Jovinus, who was a citizen 
of Rheims, and became Roman consul in the year 366. This monument, which is 
of white marble, presents upon one of its faces an exceedingly well-preserved 
sculptured representation of a hunting scene. In the north ead of the transept 
there is one of the finest organs in France, over which there is a grand circular 
window of painted glass, and on the opposite side there is another. Among the 
other remarkable objects in the cathedral, we may mention that the chapel of the 
virgin contains a bas-relief by Nicolas Jacques, and Poussin's fine picture of "The 
Washing of the Feet." There is also a marble font, in which it is believed that 
Clovis, the first Christian king of France, was baptized. This building was com- 
menced in the year 1211, to replace one that had been burnt down the preceding 
year ; but it was not completed until toward the end of the fifteenth century. 

Next to the cathedral, the church of St. Remi is the most interesting building in 
the town, and forms a very conspicuous object on the approach to it, particularly on 
the road from Chalons. We shall not undertake to describe it particularly, but 
may mention that it was remarkable in popular opinion for nothing more than for 
being the building in which was deposited the famous vial of oil with which the 
kings were anointed, and which, according to a tradition not yet quite exploded, 
was ])rought from Heaven by a dove at the baptism of Clovis. The town has five 
cliurches in all. 

Rheims possesses a very superb townhall, which was begun in the year 1627, 
but only completed in 1825. The facade is decorated with Corinthian, Ionic, and 
Doric columns, and terminates in two large pavilions, between which another, more 
light and elegant, surmounts a fine tower. This vast building contains the public 
library, which consists of twenty-five thousand printed volumes and one thousand 
manuscripts. 

Rheims was a place of importance under the Romans, and of this fact there still 
remain some indications. Of these, the ancient names by which several of the 
streets and gates are still called do not seem the least interesting. The old gate of 
Mars, which was closed up in 1542, is situated near the new gate of the same 
name, and although much decayed is an interesting object. It consists of a triple 
portico, decorated with eight fluted Corinthian columns ; the middle arch is nine- 
teen feet in width, and the other two twelve feet six inches. Writers are not agreed 
by whom or in whose honor this triumphal arch was erected. At a little distance 
from the town there is an isolated mound, which is believed to be composed of the 
rubbish of an amphitheatre. 

The city is the seat of an archbishopric, of which the arrondissement of R.heims 
and the department of the Ardennes form the diocese, and which has for its suffra- 
gans the bishops of Amiens, Beauvais, Chalons-sur-Marne, and Soissons. It is,, in 
fact, the ecclesiastical capital of France, of which the archbishop is the metropol- 
itan prelate. This dignitary was formerly premier duke and peer of France, and 
enjoyed the exclusive privilege of consecrating the kings of that country. In the 
year 1179, Philip Augustus was crowned in the cathedral at Rheims, in the presence 
of all the peers of France; and from that time until 1829, when Charles X. was 
crowned here with great magnificence, all the sovereigns of the country have been 
crowned in the same place, with only three exceptions : that of Henry IV., who 
was crowned at Chartres ; of Napoleon, whose coronation took place at Paris ; and 
of Louis XVIII., Avho Avas not crowned at all. When Louis Philippe was called 
to the throne, in 1830, the costly ceremony was abolished altogether. 

Among the public establishments of Rheims there are the usual offices of local 
government, judicial administration, and commercial association. A university was 
founded in 1587 by the cardinal of Lorraine, and attained some celebrity ; but it 
perished at the Revolution, and is now replaced by a royal college, or high-school. 
There is also a medical school, several schools of mutual instruction, and a botanic 
garden. 

The manufactures of the town consist chiefly of cotton and woollen goods, with 
hats, stockings, candles, oil, leather, and spiced biscuits and bread. Its traffic with 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 117 

these and other articles, and, above all, with the wines of Champaigne, is consider- 
able, and is much facilitated by the excellent roads which connect it with the me- 
tropolis and other important towns. The present population of thirty-eight thousand 
is a considerable increase on that exhibited in former years. 

Amiens, in Picardy, a fortified city in the French department of the Somrae, 
is situated on the river S^mme ; long. 2° 18' E. ; lat. 49° 53' N. It contains 5,980 
houses, 41,000 inhabitants, is the residence of a bishop, and has possessed, since the 
year 1750, a Societc d'' Emulation, an academy of arts and sciences, of literature, 
commerce, and agriculture, a lyceum, a school at St. Acheul, under the direction of 
the Jesuits, a convent of the order of La Trappe, in the Abbey du Gard, many con- 
siderable manufactories of woollen cloth, tapestry, damask, and kerseymere (of 
which 130,000 pieces are sold annually), leather, soap, as well as eighty cotton 
factories. The pastry of Amiens, also, often goes across the channel, and is very 
celebrated. 

The cathedral of Amiens has always been accounted one of the chief glories of 
Gothic architecture. It was erected at the time when, in France at least, whatever 
might be the case in England, that style had reached its highest perfection, namely, 
the early part of the thirteenth century. To this period are to be referred all the 
other greatest works of the same kind in that kingdom: among others, the cathedrals 
of Paris, of P\,oden, of Rheims, and of Lyons, the Sainte Chapelle of Paris, the church 
of St. Nicaise at Rheims, and that of Notre Dame at Nantes. All these famous 
structures were completed, we believe, a considerable time before the close of the 
thirteenth century, and they were most of them begun a few years before or after its 
commencement. 

From the extraordinary richness and beauty displayed in these buildings, nothing 
of a character similar to which, it is contended, was seen in England till nearly a 
hundred years later — a very powerful argument has been deduced in refutation of the 
notion of some writers, that what is called Gothic architecture is of English origin. 
So far, it is said, is this from being the case that, if the comparative state of the art 
in the two countries at the same date is to be taken as evidence of Avhich borrowed 
it from the other, it is impossible not to admit that France must have been the fore- 
runner and teacher of England. It would appear that the only way in which this 
argument can be met, is by questioning the fact upon Avhich it is founded ; and ac- 
cordingly it has been asserted, that Salisbury and other English cathedrals, built in 
the thirteenth century, exhibit as advanced a style as those of the same age in France. 
After all, neither of the theories which make the one of these two countries to have 
borrowed its Gothic architecture from the other is altogether free from difficulties; 
and probably the truer supposition is, that both derived the art from some third, 
quarter, or, it is even possible, from two perfectly distinct quarters, and that it was 
then carried forward independently in each. 

, One of the most able expositions and defences of the opinion, that the English 
Gothic is of French origin, is contained in a work entitled, "An historial survey of 
the ecclesiastical antiquities of France, by the Rev. G. D. Whittington," published in 
1809, after the death of the author, under the care of the earl of Aberdeen. The 
views maintained in this work are supported by a reference, among other edifices, 
to the cathedral of Amiens, and by an elaborate comparison of it Avith that of 
Salisbury, which was b,eg'un in the same year, and also completed nearly with the 
same space. 

The present is the third cathedral which is recorded to have been erected at 
Amiens, the two fjrmer having been successively destroyed by fire (the common 
catastrophe of large buildings i"n those days) in 1019 and 1,218. The zeal of Bishop 
■Evrard, however, who presided over the see when the latter of these two calamities 
occurred, did not permit him to lose much time in making preparation for the erection 
of a new and more splendid church ; and, after money had been collected by every 
available method for the pious work, the building Avas begun in 1220. It was 
zealously carried on by Evrard and his successors, till, having been finished in all 
its material parts, it was consecrated in 1269, in the time of Bishop Bertrand d'Abbe- 
ville, the fifth from its founder. The ornamental part of the work, however, it 
Avould appear, continued to be carried on for nearly lAventy years after this date ; 
and the two great towers over the west front are stated not to have been erected till 
the following century. There are some verses, in old French, inscribed on the pave- 
ment of the nave, which state that the main part of the building was the work of 



118 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



three successive architects: "Maistre Robert de Lusarche, Maistre Thomas de Cor- 
mont, and Maistre Regnault." 

The structure is in the customary form of a cross, composed of a nave and choir in 
the one direction and a transept in the other. Both the nave and the transept are 
furnished with aisles, and there are double aisles on each side of the choir. The 
following are the principal dimensions, as given by Mr. WUiittington in French feet 
(each of which contains about 13 English inches) — length from east to west, 415 
feet; length of the transept from north to south, 182 feet; breadth of the nave with 
its aisles, 78 feet 9 inches ; breadth of the transept, 42 feet 9 inches. 

The external appearance of this magnificent building presents a striking combina- 
tion and harmony of boldness and lightness. The windows are ranged in two tiers, 
and are of so great height and breadth, being divided from each other only by nar- 
row buttresses, that to adopt Mr. Whittiugton's expression, no wall, properly speak- 
ing, is visible anywhere ; the pile is all window. The buttresses stand out distinctly 
from the line of the building, and shoot up into pinnacles above the commencement 
of the roof. When Mr. Whittington visited Amiens, in 1802 or 1803, the original 
stained glass was still in the windows, and he describes its effect as exceedingly 
beautiful ; but later authorities speak of this ornamental accessory as having been 
now removed. 

The only considerable extent of solid masonry is presented 
by the west front; and this is magnificent in the extreme. 
Our engraving is taken from an original drawing by Mr. 
W. Frome Small wood, who has delineated most of the other 
representations of continental buildings that have embel- 
lished our publication. There are, it will be observed, three 
great entrances, the central one of which in particular is of 
colossal dimensions. The entire breadth of the facade ex- 
ceeds 160 English feet. "This front exhibits," says Mr. 
Whittington, "the most gorgeous display of statuary, 
armies of saints, prophets, martyrs, and angels, line the 
door-ways, crowd the walls, and swarm round all the pinna- 
cles ; nothing can be more rich." Tlie wall is so deep as, 
in each of the doors, to admit of eight parallel rows of 
statues running up and ribbing the arch. The execution of 
many of these figures eviiices great talent in the artist, and 
a correctness of taste which we do not often find in Gothic 
statuary. In the south porch there are also several fine 
statues. We adjoin a copy of one representing the Virgin 
and her child, which, both in outline, expression, attitude, 
and drapery, possesses a simplicity and beauty that would 
do honor to a better school. 

Above the central door is a noble circular or madrigal 
window ; others, similar to which, ornament the north and 
south terminations of the transept. The towers over the 
extremities of the west front are each of the height of 210 
French, that is, about 230 English feet. There is besides . 
a wooden spire over the intersection of the nave and transept ; 
but it does not claim much admiration. 

The view yn entering the church is in the highest degree 
striking and splendid. Owing to the organ being placed 
over the west end of the nave, the whole extent of the in- 
terior opens at once on the eye. The unusual loftiness of 
the roof, which is about 145 English feet from the pave- 
ment, adds powerfully to the effect. The arches, which 
unite tJie rows of columns on each side of the nave, are also 
very high, and have a most majestic air. Rows of chapels, 
Virgin and Child, from South rich with sculpture and other decorations, display themselves 
Porch. on each side, amidst the blaze of light that falls from the 

spacious windows. But the crowning ornament is a semi-circular colonnade, pene- 
trated with lancet-shaped arches, which terminates the choir, and is of course full 
in view. "The choir," says Mr. Whittington, "is superb; it is paved with fine 
marble, and angels, leaning forward from every pillar, support the lights ; at the 




CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



119 




West Front of the Cathedral of Amiens. 



120 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

termination, a mass of clouds, with gold rays bursting forth, has an exciting effect." 
The length of the choir is 130 feet (French), and between it and the nave there is 
an interval of 18 feet. The Lady Chapel beyond the choir is 45 feet in length. 

Some of the monumental sculptures are worthy of observation — one particularly, 
in the choir, in which there is a representation of a child weeping. There are also 
on each side of the grand entrance the tombs of Bishops Evrard and d'Abbevillc, the 
founder and finisher of the cathedral, with their figures in brass. Among the relics 
preserved in the choir are shown what are called the bones of St. Firmin, tJie founder 
of the see of Amiens, about whose era, however, there is a good deal of difference 
among the authorities. Some say he lived in the first century ; while others assign 
him to the third, or even the fourth. They used also to show here the head of John 
the Baptist, which was alleged to have been brought from Constantinople about the 
beginning of the thirteenth century. At the. Revolution, the cathedral of Amiens 
was pillaged of all its more valuable ornaments; but the fabric was saved from in- 
jury by the spirit of the mayor and the inhabitants, who armed themselves in its de- 
fence when it was about to be attacked. 

Chartees, the principal town of the department of the Eure and Loire, is about 
sixty-five miles southwest of Paris, on the road which passes through Versailles 
and Rambouillet to Tours. It is one of the oldest towns in France, and was knoAvn 
to the ancients under the names of Antricum and Carnutum. During the middle 
ages it was frequently taken and pillaged, and in the fifteenth century it was for a 
considerable period in the possession of the English ; but it was retaken by Dunois. 
In 1568, the protestant party, then in arms, beseiged Chartres, but without success. 
In 1591, .when France was torn by internal contests, the town was taken by Henry 
IV. Three years afterward he was crowned in the cathedral, that of Rheims, in 
which the ceremony had always been performed, not being in his possession ; or, as 
is sometimes stated, the prelate of Rheims being considered a disaffected person, 
the m'onarch transferred his favors to Chartres. At the village of Bretigny, a short 
distance from Chartres, a treaty was signed between the French and English, by 
which the French king, who had been taken prisoner at the battle of Poictiers, in 
1356, was restored to his country. 

The ancient defences of the town are destroyed, but the houses in many parts of 
it still retain the appearance which is peculiar to the domestic edifices of the middle 
ages, standing with their many-gabled fronts toward the narrow and crooked streets, 
the wood with which they are constructed exhibiting curious specimens of the car- 
ver's art. Some of the houses have Utile towers, which are still more characteristic 
of the period referred to. The town slands on an eminence, and is divided into the 
upper and lower town ; the former, being the most modern, contains the principal 
inns, the postoffice, and other public buildings. Nevertheless, the place of St. Peter, 
which is in the old town, is very agreeably ornamented by alleys of trees. The old 
ramparts are converted into a boulevard, which is much frequented as a promenade. 
The finest public walk is the Place des Barricades, which is beyond the walls. 
Three of the old gales are- standing, the most remarkable of which is the Porte 
Guillaume. The communication between the upper and lower town is by pathways 
so steep, as totally to exclude the use of carriages ; and wine, wood, coal, and other 
bulky articles, are introduced by means of handbarrows. The river Eure, which 
runs through the lower town, divides into two branches, only one of which enters 
within the limits of the town. The bridge was constructed by Vauban. Chartres 
does not possess any variety of public buildings. The Prefecture was formerly the 
palace of the bishop, bui the Revolution has changed its destination to secular pur- 
poses. There is a statue of General Marceau, who was a native of Chartres, and 
while employed by the republican government in the task of pacifying La Vendee, 
earned this memorial by his admirable prudence and good feeling in such difficult 
circumstances. The choir of the church of St. Andrew is built on an arch beneaih 
which the Eure passes. The construction of the church is somewhat peculiar, and 
the stones are cemented in such a manner, that the edifice appears as if constructed 
out of the solid rock. The population of Chartres is above fourteen thousand. It 
is the seat of a bishop, and con-ains several administrative offices, of the first class. 

The spires of the cathedral are visible twenty-five miles before the traveller 
reaches Chartres, from whatever quarter he approaches the town ; and yet it is not 
possible to obtain a complete view of this fine old edifice, so closely is it surrounded 
by other buildings. One of the spires is heavy and without ornament, if we except 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE- 



121 




122 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

the stones being cut like the scales of a fish, the effect of which is singular, rather 
than pleasing. This spire seems always to be leaning, from whatever point it is 
viewed. This is owing to the angle which faces the spectator, being so straight, as 
to appear as if it were entirely vertical. The other spire is enriched with ornaments 
toward the middle ; but as they are not continued throughout, the effect is not har- 
monious. The steeples of Chartres are about three hundred and six feet high ; that 
of Strasburg is four hundred and ninety-two feet in height. There is in France an 
old saying, to the effect that all th.e requisites for a perfect church would be combined 
by adopting the entrance of the cathedral of Rheims, the nave of that of Amiens, 
the cboir of Beauvais, and the steeple of Chartres. The entrance to the cathedral 
is by a porch, a portion of which is represented in the engraving. The obscurity 
which reigns in the interior is so great, that except the day be bright, it is not pos- 
sible to read small print. This is owing to the thickness of the glass, and to its 
being highly stained. Along the exterior of the choir there are forty-three niches, 
filled with groups illustrative of Scripture history, above which are delicately-exe- 
cuted Gothic ornaments, and beneath, arabesque ornaments equally graceful. The 
intei'ior part of the choir contains representations in effigy of various scenes in die 
life of Christ, executed in Carrara marble by Bridan ; and one to commemorate a 
vow made by Louis XIII. in this cathedral. The choir is surrounded by a double 
range of lateral naves, sustained by thirty-two pillars. In the. middle of the nave 
the pavement is laid in a spiral form, and is popularly called "la lieue," from the 
belief that the length of the circles, if traced from their commencement, would be 
equal to a league. The nave is supported by a single row of sixteen pillars ; eiglit 
sustain the cross, making, altogether, fifty-six pillars. The principal altar is re- 
markable for a colossal group, in marble, of the Assumption of the Virgin, Avhich 
was executed in 1773 by Bridan. This work had very nearly been destroyed during 
the Revolution, but was saved by one of the inhabitants, who proposed changing 
the Virgin into the Goddess of Liberty, and accordingly placed a Phrygian cap on 
her head. The group is supported by five columns, which stand in the lower church. 
This latter portion of the cathedral, previous to the destruction, during the Revolu- 
tion, of the chapels and effigies which it contained, was one of the most complete 
of its kind in France. It is not at present generally exhibited to visiters, though 
highly curious and picturesque. 

The Rev. G. D. Whiltington's " Ecclesiastical Antiquities of France" contains the 
following account of the cathedral of Chartres : — 

" The cathedral of Chartres, one of the grandest works of the age, was rebuilt 
in the eleventh century, by Fulbert, its bishop. This church, which is said to have 
been originally founded in the third century, had been frequently burnt, particularly 
by lightning, in 1020 ; upon which Fulbert undertook its entire reconstruction, and 
the great reputation he enjoyed in France and the rest of Europe, enabled him to 
execute it in a manner, till then unknown in his country. Kanute, king of England, 
and Richard, duke of Normandy, were among the princes who assisted him with 
contributions. Some accounts mention that he had the gratification of seeing the 
work finished before his death, which happened in 1028 ; this, however, is dis- 
proved by the epitaph upon Thierri, or Theodoric, his successor, still existing in 
the church of St. Pere, which ascribes the completion of the fabric to that prel- 
ate, who died in 1048. The northern part was erected afterward, in 1060, at the 
expense of Jean Cormier, a native of Chartres, and physician to the king." The 
above he has taken from the account given by Lenoir, who derived his information 
from the archives of the city of Chartres, preserved in the king's library at Paris. 
Mr. Whittington adds: "The length of the cathedral at Chartres is four hundred 
and twenty feet ; the height, one hundred and eight feet ; the nave is forty-eight feet 
wide, with aisles eighteen and a half feet wide, and forty-two feet high. On each 
side of the choir the aisles are double, and the transept, which is two hundred and 
ten feet long, contains aisles, which seems to have been the first instance of this 
magnificent arrangement in France. There are seven chapels in the chevet, and 
the crypts and lower church are built with great art and regularity. 

Laon, one of the most ancient cities in the north of France, is the chief town of 
the department of the Aisne. Before the last territorial division of France, a small 
district surrounding Laon was called Laonois, but it was included in the larger prov- 
ince of Picardy. Picardy was bounded on the west by the English channel, and on 
the southwest by Normandy. It was, after Normandy, the province with which the 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



123 




124 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

English were most intimately connected during the period which preceded the con- 
solidation of France as a European power of the first rank. The town is built on a 
hill, which stands alone, in the midst of a vast plain. It was a natural defence, 
which, doubtless, was soon rendered more impregnable on account of the constant 
want of order which prevailed. The castle, built on the side of Laon was the 
means of affording protection against the violence of power. Clovis granted some 
privileges to the population which had resorted hither to avail themselves of this 
advantage, and an episcopal church was founded in 515, by St. Remy. The last 
kings of France of the second race, hemmed in by powerful contenders for the ter- 
ritory of what now constitutes the kingdom, found their power confined within a 
small extent of country around Laon. Louis d'Outre-mer, after having besieged the 
town, died a prisoner there, in 953. Laon was one of the earliest towns in the 
north of France, in which the inhabitants emancipated themselves from the shackles 
of feudal power. Within Amiens, Beauvais, Noyon, and other places which had 
also obtained a considerable degree of independence, there existed a spirit of rough 
freedom, the influence of which deserves to be duly estimated by the student of this 
period of European history. In 1419 Laon was taken by tlie English, but they were 
subsequently driven out by the inhabitants, who rose against them. It enjoyed some 
repose until the wars of the League ; but it surrendered, in 1594, to Henry IV. The 
citadel which he caused to be built is destroyed. In the seventeenth century Laon 
suffered much, in consequence of the wars of religion and the Fronde. In fact, 
throughout the history of France it has been generally connected with the leading 
events, or in some manner experienced their influence. This arose chiefly from its 
position as a place of defence, and its situation on the frontiers. The town and 
castle were anciently regarded as one of the ramparts of France. An old wall, 
flanked with little towers, is all that remains of its former defences. 

Laon is about seventy-five miles from Paris, and is visible on all sides to the dis- 
tance of sixteen or eighteen miles. The town occupies the greater part of the crown 
of the hill, which in one place extends in a forked direction. On one arm of the 
hill stands the ruins of an abbey. The view from the Boulevards on the ancient 
walls is extensive. Laon has only one considerable street; the others are narrow 
and ill-built. The population, in 1831 was eight thousand four hundred. There 
are five fauxbourgs at the foot of the hill. The usual establishments of a town of 
this class are to be found at Laon. 

The cathedral, as will be seen by the engraving, is a fine old building. It existed 
in 1114, but the precise date of its erection is not known. Its length is three hun- 
dred and thirty-three feet, breadth seventy-eight feet, and height of towers one hun- 
dred and -seventy-nine feet. The only description we have been able to obtain of the 
cathedral is from the manuscript journal ef a tourist, who communicated his notes 
to the editor of " Sir David Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopaedia." The Avriter 
says: " The open buttresses, and the long open Avindows in the square towers, give 
a peculiar air of lightness to the building when seen from a short distance ; but at a 
considerable distance, and particularly in the night, they give it the appearance of a 
scaffolding, the light coming through in every direction. The great portal is not 
unlike that of Rheims, but it is less elegant in the sculptures. There is a small 
spire on the south tower of the cathedral. The interior of the cathedral is very fine. 
In the nave are ten circular pillars on each side, with capitals; two of them on each 
side having four small columns round it. Above the choir is a most magnificent cir- 
cular window of painted glass. There is another fine circular window in the nave, 
above an excellent organ, and at each end of the transept." 

The bishopric was suppressed at the Revolution. Its revenues amounted to thirty- 
five thousand livres, and the bishop was invested with the title and privileges of a 
duke and peer of France, and took part in the ceremonies at coronations. The 
chapter consisted of four dignitaries and eighty-four prebends. 

Beauvais is a city of France, the capital of the department of the Oise, situated 
upon the Therain, in a valley surrounded by woody hills. The site of Beauvais was 
occupied, in very remote times, by a city, which is mentioned in the " Commentaries 
of Caesar," by the name of Caesaro-magus, and which it afterward dropped for that 
of Bellovacum, derived from a Belgian people, the Bellovaci, by whom it was inhab- 
ited. It was ravaged by the Normans in the year 850, and at other periods ; and 
few cities have experienced more calamities and frequent fires than Beauvais. The 
town still exults in the glory of having sustained two very formidable sieges without 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



U5 




126 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

being taken. The first of these was in the year 1443, when the English were re- 
pulsed by the devoted heroism of Jean Signiere ; the second was in 1472, when 
Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, unsuccessfully besieged it with eighty thou- 
sand men. On this occasion, the females of Beauvais, headed by Jane Hachette, 
joined the garrison, and fought with uncommon intrepidity. This heroine herself, 
on one occasion, seized the flag which the enemy were about to plant on the walls, 
and threw from the rampart the soldier by whom it was carried. The assailants 
were obliged to withdraw. Until the revolution, the event was annually commem- 
orated, on the 10th of July, by a procession, in which the women marched first. 

The cathedral of Beauvais, the south front of which is represented in our engra- 
ving, is the principal architectual ornament of the town. The building was com- 
menced in the year 1391. It is particularly noted for its choir, which is regarded as 
a masterpiece of Gothic architecture, being as much admired for its height and 
breadth as for the lightness of the work and the fine arrangement of the vault and 
its outworks. It has ten pillars on each side of its length, with chapels all around. 
The pavement of the sanctuary, which is very large, is all of marble. This mag- 
nificent building seems never to have been finished. The nave is incomplete, and 
there are neither towers nor apparent belfries. The church possesses, nevertheless, 
some great bells, which are placed in a separate building, about fifteen paces Irom 
the front entrance. Near the cathedral there are four small collegiate churches 
which are distinguished as " the four daughters of St. Peter," to which saint the ca- 
thedral is dedicated. Our engraving represents the south front of the cathedral. It 
can only be viewed from a very narrow street ; but its magnificent dimensions, and 
its elaborate ornaments, afford a remarkable specimen of the ecclesiastical architec- 
ture of France. 

Besides the cathedral, there are few buildings at Beauvais that claim particular 
notice. The townhall is a fine edifice, and contains a picture representing the heroic 
action of Jane Hachette. There is one large hospital, a communal college, a public 
library containing six thousand volumes, a cabinet of natural history, and a hall for 
exhibitions. The place possesses some considerable manufactories, principally of 
rich tapestries, serges, and woollen cloth, which give it a respectable tvade. The 
population is twelve thousand eight hundred. 

The situation of Beauvais is not unpleasant, but the town, on the whole, does not 
present an agreeable aspect. The houses are built chiefly of wood, a circumstance 
which accounts for the frequent fires to which we alluded. The streets are suffi- 
ciently wide, and the ramparts afford pleasant and shady promenades. 

Dieppe is a seaport town of France, situated between two rocky mountains, at the 
mouth of the river Arque, which empties itself into the British channel. In the 
ancient division of France into provinces, Dieppe belonged to Normandy ; but the 
more recent division into departments renders it one of the towns of the Lower Seine, 
and the principal place of a district of its own name. It is distant 90 miles north- 
west from Paris, and 140 miles south-southeast from London. 

The town is not very ancient, and originated with the fishermen who constructed 
their cabins at the mouth of the Arque, which afforded an advantageous situation 
for the prosecution of their employment. It began to figure in history toward the 
end of the twelfth century, it having been destroyed and its vessels burnt, in' the year 
1196, by Philip Augustus, dyring the quarrels between him and Richard Coeur de 
Lion. The houses seem, however, to have been soon rebuilt, and the other disasters 
repaired. Previously to the reign of Charles VII., Dieppe, with the rest of Normandy, 
remained in the possession of the English ; but, in the year 1433, it was taken by the 
French ; and although, about nine years after, Talbot besieged it with powerful 
artillery, his attempts to retake it were rendered abortive by Dunois, who threw 
himself into the place, and was speedily succored by the dauphin, son of Charles 
VII. In the fourteenth century Dieppe had already become celebrated for its in- 
dustry and its commerce ; and at a later period, under Francis I., it possessed an 
immense maritime commerce. Ango, the principal of its privateering chiefs, covered 
the sea with his vessels, and sent armed squadrons, at his own expense, to chastise 
the povi^ers which had insulted his flag, and treated with their ambassadors as an 
equal. Some of the most remarkable commercial enterprises of those times emanated 
from Dieppe. In 1335 the inhabitants fitted out an expedition to the coasts of Africa, 
where they afterward built forts and established a considerable trade. France also 
owed to them its first establishments in Canada, and the foundation of Quebec ; and 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



127 




128 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

they have the honor of numerous geographical discoveries which we can not here 
enumerate. The prosperity of Dieppe underwent a serious interruption in 1694, 
when it was reduced to ashes by an English squadron, which threw into the town 
3,000 bombs and 4,000 balls. The castle, two churches, and a few houses, alone 
escaped the effects of this terrible bombardment. The town was, however, shortly 
rebuilt with the assistance of the government ; and the opportunity was taken to 
give it more regularity and greater uniformity of appearance than it previously 
possessed. 

Notwithstanding the variations of temperature at Dieppe, the air is considered to 
be generally pure and healthy. The water for common use is abundant and of good 
quality : there are 68 fountains dispersed through the town, fed by an aqueduct, 
which is cut in the rock to the extent of upAvard of three miles. The town itself is, 
upon the whole, handsome and well built. The streets, which are wide and straight, 
are for the most part composed of good and uniform houses, which are generally 
built with bricks, covered with tiles, and furnished with balconies. The high street, 
which is more than a mile in length, is particularly worthy of notice. Nevertheless 
the general effect of the town is spoken of as unpleasing to an English eye. The 
fronts of the houses are dingy, and the windows disfigured with clothes hung out to 
dry. The streets, too, are indifferently paved, and are cleaned by gutters which run 
down the middle with cuts on each side leading to the houses. The town has two 
suburbs, one of which, called Le Paulet, is inhabited principally by fishermen and 
sailors. The principal ecclesiastical structure is the parish church of St. James, one 
of those which escaped the bombardment of 1694; it is a fine edifice surmounted 
by a tower, from which the coast of England can be seen distinctly. There are two 
other parish churches, and a place of worship for protestants. The place contains 
two hospitals, a communal college, with a library of 3,000 volumes, a navigation 
school, a theatre, barracks for infantry, &c. Dieppe has a good stone bridge of seven 
arches: there are several small squares, and the ramparts afford a very excellent 
promenade. The castle of Dieppe is situated to the west of the town ; it occupies a 
strong and picturesque situation, commanding at the same time the town, the valley, 
and the sea. Its high walls are flanked with towers and bastions ; but it is, taken 
altogether, an irregular and badly-fortified structure. The harbor is at the opposite 
or eastern end of the town : it is formed by the mouth of the Arque, and though 
tolerably commodious, is narrow, not being fitted to contain more than 200 vessels 
of from 60 to 400 tons burden. It is in the form of a semi-circle, and has a depth of 
eighteen feet at high water, and is furnished with two very fine moles of strong brick- 
work, about half a mile in length. 

Avery excellent establishment of seabaths was formed at Dieppe in the year 1822. 
It consists of two distinct parts ; the first is an erection upon the beach destined to 
receive the bathers, forming a gallery about 100 yards in length, decorated at each 
end with elegant pavilions. The tents placed upon the sand, and the bathing-ma- 
chines, appertain to this part of the establishment. The other part consists of a 
hotel, in which are lodgings particularly appropriated to the strangers who frequent 
the baths and who increase in number every year. In the town, opposite the theatre, 
there is another establishment, containing hot, cold, and shower baths, of both sea 
and soft water. This establishment also contains a magnificent ballroom, a fine 
coflfee-room, and a reading-room. There are not, in any country, many towns better 
provided than Dieppe in facilities for bathing, the importance of which to health and 
comfort has been hitherto sadly overlooked in this country. 

The manufactures and maritime commerce of Dieppe suffered greatly during the 
last war between England and France ; but a revival has since taken place, though 
we have no materials estimating to what extent. A great deal of cooper's work is 
done in Dieppe, barrels being much in dernand for fhe fisheries during the salting- 
season: there are sugar refineries, rope manufactories, and yards for building mer- 
chant-vessels. But the principal manufactures of the place are in ivory and lace. 
The toys, of very superior workmanship and reasonable price, which are manufac- 
tured at Dieppe from ivory, horn, and bone, and which have always been consider- 
ably in demand, furnish employment to a rather large section of the population. 
The manufacture of lace is less considerable now than in former times, although the 
establishment of a school for the manufacture has given activity to this branch of 
employment. The following particulars relate to the manufacture as it existed pre- 
viously to the French revolution ; but they are still, we believe, applicable in details 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



129 




130 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN , 

though not in extent. In 1788 the manufacture afforded employment to about 4,000 
married and unmarried females and children, chiefly the wives and daughters of 
fishermen ; and its annual produce was about 18,000 pounds. The merchants sold 
the thread to the women, and paid them for the lace according to its value, which 
differed from sevenpence-halfpenny to fifteen or sixteen shillings a yard. Common 
lace consumed, of course, more thread than the fine bone-lace. Thus a yard of 
fifteen-penny lace would contain ninepennyworth of thread, while a yard of eight or 
nine shilling lace contained no more than threepennyworth of thread. The inferior 
■ work people could earn about threepence or fourpence a day at this employment, 
while the more skilful might get from sixpence to a shilling a day. Small sums 
these seem ; but this was fifty years ago, and in France, where the people can live 
on less money than here. 

It is its fisheries, however, which afford to Dieppe the most important branch of 
its trade. As it is the nearest seaport to Paris, and is most advantageously situated 
for fishing on the coast, the metropolis, naturally looks to Dieppe for the principal 
part of its supply of fish. This circumstance gives great activity to this branch of 
employment, which occupies a large number of men and vessels. The principal 
fisheries of Dieppe are those of the herring, whiting, and mackerel. The fish in- 
tended for the Paris market are sent off, as soon as landed, in light carts, which 
travel night and day. Oysters too are abundant in the harbor of Dieppe or its vicinity 
and many thousands are annually sent hence to Paris. 

The population of Dieppe is commonly estimated at 20,000 ; but the most recent 
authority, the " France Pittoresque," gives it only 17,079. The town has been the 
birthplace of several distinguished men, among whom the " Dictionnaire Geogra- 
phique Universal" mentions the physician Jean Pecquet, who discovered the thoracic 
duct, to which his name has been given ; and Bruzen de la Martiniere, the author of 
" Le Grand Dictionnaire Geographique." 

Poitiers is the chief city of the' department of Vienne, and is situated upon a 
rocky hill at the confluence of the rivers Clain and Boivre, the waters of which 
almost entirely surround it. It is of an oblong form, large, and surrounded by an 
old wall, which is flanked by towers and pierced with gates, four of which are in 
connexion with as many bridges over the Clain. Poitiers is very irregularly built ; 
the streets are narrow, crooked, and badly paved ; the houses without any preten- 
sion to architectural beauty ; and the squares, with the exception of the Place Roy- 
ale, small and unornamented. There is a pretty public promenade which over- 
looks the Clain and the surrounding country. The cathedral and other churches are 
only remarkable for their antiquity, but the old castle has many historical recollec- 
tions associated with it, having been inhabited at different times by eminent persons. 
It was in a great measure demolished under Louis XIII. Poitiers is the seat of a 
bishopric, suffragan to the archbishop of Bordeaux ; and also of a Cour Royale. It 
contains, besides, an Academic Universitaire, with a faculty of law ; a royal col- 
lege, with a museum ; a diocesan seminary, with secondary schools of medicine, 
surgery., and pharmacy, and a cabinet of natural history ; a free-shool of design and 
architecture; a botanic garden, with a nursery department; a library, with twenty- 
two thousand volumes; hospitals, charities, &c. The trade of Poitiers is not very 
extensive, but embraces several kinds of manufacture. Among the most important 
are common cloaks, blankets, flannels, cotton and woollen hosiery, lace, wool, flax, 
hats, wines, &c. There are several fairs. In the environs there is a quarry of fine 
freestone, and indications of a coal-mine. The population is about twenty-two 
thousand. Among the eminent persons born in or near Poitiers, may be mentioned 
Cardinal Balue, General Montalembert, and Madame and Mademoiselle D^rroches, 
the poetesses. In the church of the Gray Friars repose the ashes of Madame de 
Montespan. 

Poitiers is one of the most ancient cities of Gaul. At the time of the conquest by 
Julius Cesar, it was considered a place of some strength ; and in Ptolemy's time, in 
the second century, had become still more considerable. Its name was then Limo- 
num. It afterward took the name of Pictavi, as being the capital town of the tribes 
of the Pictavi, or Pictones, a people of Gaul. By the Romans it was embellished 
with various great works ; of these there only remain vestiges of the palace of 
Galienus, of the aqueduct by which water was brought to the palace, and an am- 
phitheatre. In the fourth century Poitiers became the seat of a bishopric, which it 
Still continues to be ; and in the fifth it belonged to the Visigoths. After the battle 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



131 




132 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

of Vonille, in which Clovis obtained a victory over Alaric, it became attached to the 
French crown. By the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine with Henry, duke of Nor- 
mandy, who afterward became king of England, Poitiers, and the entire district of 
Poilou, of which it was the capital, passed into the possession of the English in 
1157, by whom they were retained for above two centuries. In 1356 the famous 
battle was fought here, about a league from the town, between King John, of 
France, and the "Black Prince," of England, which ended so disastrously to the 
former, in the loss, not only of his army, but of his own personal freedom. As it is 
the remembrance of this battle which has made the name of Poitiers a " household 
word," we need not apologize for embracing the present opportunity to give a short 
account of it. 

Into the preposterous claims to the throne of France, made at different times by 
Edward III., and as a remote consequence of which the battle of Poitiers was 
fought, we shall not enter. His son. Prince Edward, in 1335, marched from Bor- 
deaux with an army of sixty thousand men toward the Pyrenees, thence northward 
by Toulouse, burning, plundering, and slaughtering, all the way, and returned in 
safety to Bordeaux. In the following year he set out on a similar expedition, with 
twelve or fourteen thousand men, and penetrated into the very heart of France, 
marking his progress at every step with fire and the sword. The national indigna- 
tion was now raised to the utmost pitch, and the king of France marched with an 
immense army toward Poitiers to intercept the English. So intense and universal 
was the abhorrence the English had inspired by their excesses, that the prince was 
unable to obtain any intelligence of John's movements, and therefore pursued his 
way toward the same place. On the 17th of September the van of the English 
army fell in most unexpectedly with the rear of the French, and the prince soon 
discovered that his retreat was cut oflF, and the neighborhood swarming with hostile 
forces. " God help us," he exclaimed, " we must then consider how we can best 
fight them." He chose a most admirable position — an elevated field, planted with 
vineyards, enclosed with hedges, &c., and to which there was but one approach for 
horses, namely, a narrow lane, also skirted with hedges, which he lined with bow- 
men. On the following morning, Sunday, King John drew up his army in three 
divisions, of which he himself commanded the first, the dauphin the second, and 
the third, or reserve division, was intrusted to the care of the duke of Orleans. 
The French had no less than sixty thousand horsemen, besides an immense body of 
foot, and were commanded by the chief men of the kingdom ; while the entire 
army of the English did not exceed, horse and foot, ten thousand men. The battle 
was about to be commenced, when Cardinal Talleyrand, the pope's legate, arrived 
in the field, and besought both parties to prevent the ensuing carnage, the one by 
granting, and the other by accepting, honorable conditions. " Save my honor," 
said Prince Edward, " and the honor of my army, and I will listen to any reason- 
able terms." He offered to restore all the castles and towns he had taken in the 
expedition, to give up all his prisoners without ransom, and to swear that he would 
not, for the next seven years," bear arms against the king of France. That mon- 
arch, however, offered as his ultimatum, that the prince and one hundred of his 
best knights should yield themselves as prisoners to him, on which the remainder 
of the army might go free. Not a man in that small but heroic band of English- 
men but spurned such dishonorable terms. These negotiations took up the whole 
of Sunday, during which the English dug trenches, threw up banks, made barriers 
of their wagons, &c., and otherwise strengthened their already formidable position. 
On the morning of Monday the trumpets were heard at earliest dawn calling the 
soldiers to the fray ; but the indefatigable Talleyrand now made another attempt to 
induce John to offer more favorable proposals. He was received so roughlj as to 
convince him all further endeavors were fruitless; he therefore returned to the 
prince and informed him that he could not move John, and that he must do his best. 
" Then God defend the right,'' replied the prince, and, with a cheerful countenance, 
prepared his army for the conflict. In this hour of danger, both the army and its 
chief were, doubtless, animated with the recollection of the battle of Crecy, fought 
not long before between armies similarly disproportion ed in numbers ; and, in their 
present desperate circumstances, resolved to emulate the courage of their country- 
men in that conflict, with, perhaps, a faint hope of an equally successful result. 
Their ground was almost impregnable, and their confidence in their leader unbound- 
ed. His hope and expectation was that he should be attacked where he lay ; other- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 133 

wise, in fact, he saw that all was lost. To quit that spot and endeavor to cut his 
wa^'^ through the enormous army before him, was to advance to almost certain ruin ; 
yet he had no other course, for the army was short of provisions and fodder, and 
could not exist many days in its present position. He was not deceived. The bat- 
tle was commenced by a body of chosen French cavalry, commanded by two mar- 
shals of the kingdom, who charged along the lane, to attack and force the English 
position ; but the archers who lined the way galled their horses so terribly with 
their arrows, as to make the animals unmanageable, and to throw the whole corps 
into confusion. Before many minutes had elapsed the marshal was killed, another 
made prisoner, the lane choked with the bodies of dead or dying men and horses, 
and all who could save themselves by flight had done so. 

This discomfiture so alarmed the division under the dauphin, that it wavered, and 
many individuals were seen retreating to the rear. The circumstance escaped not 
the eagle-eyed vision of the prince ; he immediately caused a body of six hundred 
■ bowmen to wheel round upon the flank and rear of that division. It did so, but the 
French scarcely waited to be attacked ; the dauphin immediately quitted the field 
with seven hundred lances, many other knights, alarmed at the idea that they 
should be unable to regain their horses, which were in the rear, when they might 
want to fly also, followed ; the dreaded "green jackets and white bows" poured in 
an incessant stream of deadly arrows upon their troops, which, thus deserted by 
their leaders, fell into confusion and speedily gave way. The English men-at-arms, 
exulting at their successes, leaped into their saddles, shouting with irresistible ardor, 
" St. George for Guienne !" Avhile the distinguished Sir John Chandos, one of the 
ablest warriors of his age, and who, during this eventful action, never for a mo- 
ment quitted the prince's side, said to Edward, " Sire, ride forward, the day is 
yours ! Let us address ourselves to our adversary, the king of France, for in that 
part lies all the strength of the enterprise. Well I know that his valor will not 
permit him to flee, therefore he will remain with us, please God and St. George." 
The prince saw the auspicious moment had arrived, so calling out to his standard- 
bearers to "Advance banners, in the name of God and St. George," they rushed 
through the lane, charged at full speed across the moor, and precipitated themselves 
upon the enemy. The shock was terrible and irresistible. The constable of 
France, with many squadrons of horse, vainly endeavored to hold his ground ; 
they were overborne, and the constable, with his chief knights, killed. A body of 
German horse was attacked by the prince, and instantly defeated. The third divis- 
ion, under the command of the duke of Orleans, fled without striking a single blow 
but the greater part of the first, under the command of the king himself, remained 
firm, stimulated by the example of the sovereign. In fact, had the judgment of the 
king of France on that day been equal to his courage, the action must have had a 
different issue. He had been advised to begin the attack with his men-at-arms on 
foot, but the advice was rejected, and the consequences were as we have seen, most 
disastrous. And now, when he saw the English approaching at full speed to attack 
him, he instantly applied that former advice to his present totally different circum- 
stances. He and his principal knights were therefore on foot, and, in spite of this 
disadvantage, continued the action gallantly. With a battle-axe in his hand. King 
John stood foremost in the fray, while, by his side, his younger son, Philip, kept 
close to him, with his eyes fixed upon his parent, crying out from time to time, as he 
saw occasion, " Father, guard yourself on the right ! guard yourself on the left !" 
Around them were the great lords of the kingdom, who remained faithful to their 
monarch, dropping every instant in the agonies of death, while in other parts of the 
field the soldiers were disbanding themselves and running away. The prince, with 
Sir John Chandos, kept the English army steadily together, and concentrated all its 
efforts against the king and his adherents, whose number death lessened every mo- 
ment in the front and desertion in the rear. A throng of English and Gascon sol- 
diers now pressed near to the French monarch with cries of " surrender !" He was 
wounded and beaten to the ground, but again rose, and, with indomitable courage, 
continued the fighl. And thus he would have perished, but for a young knight of 
St. Omer, who, forcing his way, cried out in French, " Sire, surrender !" Struck by 
the French accent, and seeing the hopelessness of further opposition, the king 
asked, " To whom ? Where is my cousin, the prince of Wales ? If I saw him I 
would speak." — " Sire," returned the knight, " he is not here ; but surrender your- 
self to me and I will lead you to him." — " Who are you ?" inquired the king. 



134 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

" Sire, I am Denis of Morbecque, a knight of Artois, but I serve the king of Eng- 
land, because I can not belong to France, having there forfeited myall." The mon- 
arch then gave him his right-hand glove, saying, " I surrender to you ;" but he was 
still in considerable danger, for the English soldiers dragged him away from Sir 
Denis, each striving to claim the honor of the capture. He was, however, ultimately 
conducted in safety to the tent of his conqueror, the Black Prince. The English 
army behaved after the victory this day in the most humane manner, or the slaugh- 
ter of the fugitive French must have been frightful. As it was, only eight thousand 
of the French were killed in all, while, besides the king, thirteen counts, one arch- 
bishop, seventy barons and baronets, two thousand men-at-arms, and an immense 
number of inferior soldiers, were taken prisoners. Indeed, the prisoners were alto- 
gether twice as numerous as their captors. Most of these dangerous acquisitions 
were speedily dismissed ; the more important of the captives pledging themselves 
to appear on a certain day at Bordeaux and there ransom or yield themselves again 
to captivity. And now the prince exhibited as much chivalrous generosity in his 
treatment of the illustrious prisoner, as he had previously shown courage and mil- 
itary skill in overthrowing him. In spite of his lather's pretension to the throne of 
France, which now seemed more than ever feasible, " it was no longer in his eyes," 
says Sismondi, "■ John of Valois who styled himself the king of France, it was, 
indeed, the true king, whom he acknowledged for the chief of his house, and suze- 
rain of his lordships which he held in France. In the evening he gave a supper to 
his royal and other distinguished prisoners. But not all the entreaty of King John 
could induce him to sit down himself to the banquet. His constant reply was (and- 
could ever words have been more deliciously soothing to the wounded vanity of a 
brave man in King John's position?) he 'was not yet qualified to sit at the table of 
so great a prince and of so brave a man.' Seeing the king took little refresh- 
ment, he said on his knees, ' Dear sire, please not to make simple cheer ; what 
if God has not been willing to consent to-day to your will, you have on this day 
won the lofty name of prowess, and have surpassed all the best on your side.' " 
Thus concluded the battle of Poitiers. Succeeding events are too well known to 
need repetition here. 

We may notice very briefly the other principal events in the history of Poitiers. 
In 1372 it came into the possession of Charles V., who granted the inhabitants some 
important privileges. Charles VII. transferred thither, for some time, the sittings 
of parliament. Louis VII. kept his court at Poitiers, and enlarged and strength- 
ened the place. It suffered much during the religious wars. No less than twenty- 
three state-councils have been held in the city. 

Boulogne is a seaport-town on the coast of Picardy, now chief town of an arron- 
dissement of three hundred and eighty-eight square miles, with 74,676 inhabitants, 
in the department Pas de Calais, at the mouth of the Laine. It consists of the up- 
per and lower town ; the latter of which is called Boulogne sur Mer, and is far 
superior to the former in the beauty of its houses and streets. Both parts contain 
together above sixteen thousand inhabitants, and sixteen hundred houses, and a har- 
bor, which is too shallow for large vessels-of-war, but the largest merchant-vessels 
can go in and out, at high tide, without danger. With a favorable wind, vessels 
can reach the coast of England in two or three hours, from this place. Bonaparte, 
therefore, ordered the harbor to be made deeper, and a number of vessels to be built, 
in order to transport the army intended for the invasion of England, and some small 
forts and batteries to be erected, in order to strengthen the harbor and town. A 
large army remained here for many months in a camp, which almost resembled a 
town, waiting to embark ; when, upon the breaking out of hostilities with Austria, 
1805, they were called to other places. 

Boulogne is a bishopric, contains many churches, an hospital, an exchange, a mar- 
itime court, a society for the promotion of agriculture, commerce, and the arts, a 
school for instruction in navigation, sea-baths, manufactures of soap, earthenware, 
linen and woollen cloths. The most attractive object, however, at Boulogne, is the 
museum. 

The museum is situated close to the guardhouse adjoining the principal church of 
the lower or new town. An unornamented gateway leads to a quadrangle, around 
which are disposed the apartments of the officers of the museum, and the exhibition 
rooms, the latter being on the first floor. At the foot of the staircase which leads to 
the public rooms, is placed a colossal head of Henry IV., one of the most popular 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



135 



of the kings of France. The original bust of bronze may be seen on its pedestal, 
opposite the gate of the old town. The visiter will find specimens of European and 
Asiatic costume, arms, and armor, from the bow and reed-arrow of the savage, to 
the improvements which civilized people have made in the arts of designing and 
manufacturing offensive weapons. There are objects of Egyptian, Greek, and Ro- 
man art ; statues and busts from the aatique ; specimens of natural history ; a small 
gallery of paintings, containing about a hundred pictures, the older of which are by 
Dutch masters, presenting lonely windmills surrounded by willows, boors enjoying 
their rude carousals, or burgomasters and their comfortable-looking and careful 
wives. 

The medal-room contains an interesting collection, commencing at an early period 
and embracing the fine medals struck under the consulate and the empire, down to 
the reign of the present king. The Napoleon collection contains one of the medals 
intended to commemorate the invasion with which he threatened England. There 
are but few specimens in existence, as they were, it is said, suppressed ; the failure 
of the scheme having egregiously betrayed, either the predominant vanity and confi- 
dence of Napoleon, or, what is perhaps more probable, the anticipatory inscription, 
" Struck at Londan in 1804," is merely a proof how well he knew how to excite 
and stimulate for his own purposes the enthusiasm and confidence of the army. 
The medal represents a powerful male figure disabling and crushing a monster, half 
man and half fish, which latter is intended to be emblematic of the British people. 
While preparations were making for the invasion, Boulogne and the neighborhood 
was a scene of military activity which had not been witnessed in that part of Europe 
since Caesar and his legions had crossed over to Britain. The " Grand Armee" con- 
sisted of two hundred thousand men, who were in encampment on the surrounding 
heights. The port of Boulogne was filled Avith a numerous flotilla, which was twice 
unsuccessfully attacked by the English — by Nelson, on the 15th of August, 1801, 
and by Admiral Keith, on the 10th of August, 1804. The defeat of the combined 
French and Spanish fleets, in 1805, and a new European coalition, was the cause of 
the encampment being broken up, and the troops were marched to the Rhine. One 
of the rooms of the museum contains plaster-casts of the bas-reliefs on the columm 
erected within a mile of the town by the army of invasion. 





Medal struck by Napoleon, to commemorate the 
Invasion of England. 



Catherine de Medicis. — Strnck to commemorate 
the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. 



Another medal exhibits the portrait of Catherine de Medicis. This singular 
woman was born in 1519, at Florence, and was thoroughly imbued with the princi- 
ples of policy which prevailed at that period in the Italian courts. In 1533 she was 

■ married to the son of Francis I. of France, who afterward succeeded to his father's 
throne. Her husband died in 1559, and the death of Francis II., in the following 

^ear, placed the government of the country in her hands, as regent, during the mi- 
nority of her son, Charles IX. Catherine had favored the protestants from motives 
of policy, after her husband's death, as her son, who had married Mary, afterward 
Queen of Scots, was attached to the opposite party, and she hated an authority of 
which she could not partake. Her son's death led to a temporizing and wavering 



136 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



policy, which gave opportunities for the display of that spirit of intrigue and 
treachery which was so congenial to her character. She flattered alternately the 
Guises, who were at the head of the catholic party, and Conde and Coligny, who 
represented the protestants, then numerous, influential, and in the enjoyment of con- 
siderable power, endeavoring to attain, by intrigue and treachery, objects which she 
might have secured by openness and candor. Her son was declared of age when 
he was fourteen, in order that she might exercise the most absolute power in his 
name. At this time, the state of parties was such, that her purposes could be pro- 
moted only by the defeat of one or other of them. The massacre of St. Bartholo- 
mew, on the 24th of August, 1.572, was a consequence of this position, and of her 
efforts to disembarrass herself of all impediments to her wishes ; for which purpose 
she irritated her son, by jealous feelings of his younger brother, into that dependent 
state which was most favorable to her objects. Catherine again became regent on 
the death of Charles IX., until the return of Henry III. from Poland. To her are 
to be attributed, in a great measure, the misfortunes of his reign, and the state of 
France, at her death in 1583, was deplorable in the extreme. Her m^anners were 
elegant, and she possessed a taste for literature and the arts, but her life was a series 
of cruel, artful, and unprincipled actions. A copy of the medal, in which, probably, 
her portrait was flattered, is strongly indicative of that wickedness of character 
which seemed natural to her. 

Among the medals which bear impressions of female heads, is one of Mary, 
queen of Scots, taken when young; and a simple and interesting profile of Char- 
lotte Corday, who assassinated Marat. 

In the room adjoining the medal-room there is a shelf containing flagons and 
drinking-cups, which the authorities of Boulogne were anciently accustomed to use, 
when they received the visits of distinguished persons. Two of these are here rep- 
resented, one of which has the arms of the town, a swan and three pellets, struck 
on each side. The other is of the fashion of the fourteenth century. 




Ancient Boulogne Flagon. Old Drinking-Cup. 

The room to the right of the staircase is filled with a very miscellaneous collec- 
tion. Here are various articles of the costume of inhabitants of the most remote 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



137 



regions — the thick robes of a Norwegian dame and the rush 
cloak of the Hottentot, contrasted by the splendid costume of 
the Chinese mandarin. Specimens of the arts of all ages and 
countries are here collected into one focus ; the sword of the 
crusader hangs peacefully by the cimeter of the Paynim prince ; 
and the elaborate carvings of the New-Zealander, so placed 
as to be easily compared with the more facile and elegant pro- 
ductions of the Greeks. 

Strange as this medley may appear to the classical reader, we 
doubt not that the less learned visiter is more gratified by the 
variety of forms which present themselves, than he would be 
by an arrangement in which much uniformity would necessarily 
be unavoidable. 

Among the most interesting objects is an ancient sling, in very 
good preservation. The use of this implement has long since 
been superseded in civilized countries, by the more perfect and 
destructive instruments which the progress of the " art of war" 
has introduced. But in ancient times, as every biblical and 
classical reader knows, the sling was neither an inefficient nor 
an uncommon instrument of destruction. Even after the intro- 
duction of the more deadly arrow, the sling was much used by 
contending armies ; and we have many accounts of its power, 
and the skill of those who wielded it. After its use in war had 
been superseded by weapons more easily wielded, and more 
certain in their effect, it was often had recourse to by various 
nations (particularly the Saxons) in the chase ; but in the pres- 
ent day it is only known as a toy. 

The sling in the Boulogne museum has a strong leathern 
pocket, to which is attached a move"able iron apparatus, appa- 
rently for the purpose of confining the stone, when not in use, 
or it may be to assist in the propulsion of the missile. The 
straps supporting this apparatus are formed of leather, stamped 
in ridges, and painted alternately red and yellow, and are 
attached to long pieces of coarse and strongly- woven sack-cloth. 
Two balls, ornamented with red and blue worsted, render the 
Ancient Sling. hold of the hand firm, when using the instrument. 
Another curious relic of antiquity maybe seen in the case adjoining that in which 
the last-mentioned article is preserved. It is formed of a few stout bars of iron, 
crossmg each other in a peculiar manner, and riveted together by a series of iron 
studs. We have represented this in the annexed engraving, in which the form is ac- 
curately portrayed ; it would appear to have been worn by the ancients to defend the 
head from the blows of an enemy ; and if we imagine this iron " braincap" sur- 
mounting the head of a warrior, we may readily conceive that it would afibrd no 
slight obstacle to the blow of an antagonist's sword. 




Brain-Cap. 

Contiguous to these warlike instruments are many interesting specimens of the 
instruments contrived by the ancients for the purpose of enlivening their leisure by 



138 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



that " concord of sweet sounds" to which the human mind has, from the most remote 
ages, testified its devotion. These musical instruments are principally constructed 
with reeds ; but there are several stringed instruments, and many curious contri- 
vances of the natives of islands in the Pacific, and of the continent of America, for 
the production of musical sounds. In this room is also a small, but curious collec- 
tion of coins of many nations. 

We now pass into another apartment, where many Egyptian, Greek, and Roman 
antiquities arrest the attention, among which are several beautiful specimens of an- 
cient workmanship, in bronze, &c. Pompeii has furnished a few articles of pottery, 
some of which contain the remains of fowls, and other small animals, ready cooked, 
but apparently left untasted on the table, in the alarm and confusion consequent on 
the awful volcanic eruption which destroyed the city. 

Here may also be seen several early English machines and instruments of war, as 
also other archaeological curiosities, among which is a curious antique drinking-cup, 
or chalice, of a form which we often find represented in old English manuscripts. 
Beneath one of the windows is a carving in ivory, representing one of those amorous 
contests between the knights and their "fair ladyes," of which the troubadours and 
minnesingers of the ages of chivalry delighted to chant to the ardent youth of those 
interesting times, and remnants of which practice may be discovered in the masques 
and entertainments with which the court of Elizabeth was wont to be enlivened. 

The engraving now introduced, is copied from a portion of this interesting speci- 
men of ancient art, and is doubly curious, as representing one of those clumsy ma- 
chines used in the rude warfare of our ancestors, and called by them the " trebuchet." 
It was principally used by besiegers, for casting stones and other missiles into the 
towns and castles they beleaguered, and is often mentioned by Froissart, in his 
" Chronicles." The receptacle at the lower portion being filled with the missiles 
intended to be cast into the besieged place, the upper arm of the instrument (loaded 
with a heavy weight) was allowed to descend, which, owing to the unequal balance, 
it did with great velocity ; and the larger arm then swung in the air, and scattered 
its contents over the besieged. 

The knight represented in the engraving is intent upon crowding the receptacle of 
the trebuchet with full-blown roses, with which to belabor his fair adversaries, who, 
our readers must take our word for it, are not at a great distance ofi", holding out the 




Trebuchet. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 139 

castle of love or delight against the knight of desire. From the costume of the 
figures in this carving, we should suppose it to have been the work of an artist of 
the fourteenth century. 

In this museum there is a very useful collection of casts from the most eminent 
antique statues and reliefs in the principal European collections. The student in 
design may derive considerable benefit from the study of these casts ; and we are 
happy to hear that the gallery in which they are contained, is much frequented. 

It would be impossible for us to enumerate all the objects which the visiter will 
find arranged in the museum. We will merely add, that besides the very miscella- 
neous collection of articles, showing the handiwork of man, there are many speci- 
mens of natural history arranged for inspection, including zoological, mineralogical, 
and botanical specimens. 

The museum is under the superintendence of a committee of gentlemen, who an- 
nually publish a volume, descriptive of the contents of the establishment, and con- 
taining various essays on literary and scientific subjects. There are also schools and 
public lectureships attached to the institution. 

St. Omer. — The town of St. Omer is situated in the department of the Pas de 
Calais, in French Flanders. The river Aa flows through it, and becomes divided 
into a number of arms, more or less considerable, which spread over the environs. 
A canal, uniting the rivers Lys and Aa, passes, also, through the town, and it is 
here that the Aa first becomes navigable. The town itself is a place, from its posi- 
tion, of great natural strength, and is rendered stronger by considerable fortifications, 
which surround it, being nearly a league in circumference, and by deep fosses, which 
may be filled with water at any time. The adjacent country may also easily be in- 
undated, with the exception of a part toward the south, which, being hilly, will not 
admit of this means of defence ; but the passage by this path to the town is so nar- 
row and difficult, that an attack from that side would scarcely be attempted. How- 
ever, the fortifications here are of great extent. It is a portion of these which is 
represented in the engraving. 

It is, besides, defended on the southeast by the forts of St. Michel and Notre Dame 
de Grace ; on the east by that of " Les Vaches ;" to the north and northeast by the 
marshes which surround the fortified parts called Haut Pont and Lizel ; and to the 
northwest by the " Fort of the Four Mills." The town has four gates, two of which 
communicate with the environs ; and it boasts some considerable streets, well built 
and clean, but most of the houses are low and irregular, and the appearance any- 
thing but cheerful. There are several churches, but the cathedral of Notre Dame 
is the only one of importance. It is a Gothic edifice of great antiquity, in which is 
the tomb of St. Omer, from whom the town has taken its name. There is also a 
fine picture by Rubens, of the " Descent from the Cross." The interior of this cathe- 
dral is paved with the fragments of bas-reliefs of high Norman antiquity (the re- 
mains of a former edifice), a careful study of which, particularly of the pavement 
in the transepts, would afford matter of much interest to the antiquary. We be- 
lieve such a survey has never been made. 

As in most French towns, there are a number of fountains in the streets, which, 
by their appearance, and the freshness of the waters, impart a degree of cheerful- 
ness, of which the town stands much in need. 

The neighboring village of Haut Pont, of considerable size and well built, ex- 
tends itself to the north of the town, on the borders of the canal. Lizel is situated 
on the banks and the isles of Little Meldich ; the inhabitants are nearly all garden- 
ers, of a Flemish origin, who have preserved their ancient language. St. Omer 
possesses two parochial churches, an Ursuline convent, a common college, contain- 
ing the public library of sixteen thousand volumes, an arsenal (wher# is deposited a 
large collection of arms), four powder-magazines, an academy for architecture and 
design, a theatre, and several hospitals. The quays of the canals, the avenue from 
Calais, and the ramparts, which are planted with elms, aflTord agreeable prom- 
enades. 

Many different manufactures and arts are carried on at St. Omer, but the com- 
merce in which it is engaged is not so extensive as might be expected from the 
advantages of its situation, being, as it is, in the neighborhood of good roads and 
numerous canals, affording an easy communication with Calais, Gravelines, Dunkirk, 
Aire, and the interior of the kingdom. There are about nineteen thousand inhab- 



140 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

itants, or, including those of Haut Pont and Lizel, nearly twenty-two thousand, 
besides a considerable number of English families who reside there. 

St. Omer, in 626, was only a small hamlet, which had formed itself around a 
strong castle crowning the summit of Mount Sithiu, from which it took its original 
name. Adroald, the possessor of the castle and the surrounding lands, gave it, in 
645, to St. Omer, bishop of Therouenne, who built the cathedral, and in 648 found- 
ed a monastery of Bernardins, where he established his residence, and to which St. 
Bertin, its second abbot, imposed his name. In 880 the Abbe Foulques began to 
surround the town with walls, a task which was completed in 902 by Baudouin, the 
second count of Flanders ; and it was about this time that the village of Sithiu be- 
came known as the town of St. Omer, the original name being dropped for that of 
the patron of the town. In 1152 a fire destroyed a great part of it, but Baudouin 
V. repaired and improved it considerably, and Charles V. added to the fortifications. 
In 1559 the pope, Paul IV., transferred to it the bishopric of Therouenne on the 
destruction of that town. In 1477 Louis XI. besieged it in vain; but in ten years 
after, the inhabitants, having revolted, delivered the town to the Burgundians, from 
whom Louis XI., in 1492, obtained it by the treason of Philippe de CrevecoBur, the 
governor ; but the archduke Maximilian shortly afterward retook it. In 1638 it was 
again attacked unsuccessfully by the French ; but they became possessed of it in 
1677, after the battle of Cassel, and were secured in the possession by the treaty of 
Nimeguen in the following year. St. Omer was one of the points at which the 
troops destined by Napoleon for the invasion of England were stationed in 1805. 

The entrance to the town from Calais is represented in the engraving. Like most 
others in French Flanders, it is approached by a noble avenue of trees, from which 
a peep of its embattled walls is occasionally obtained. Its exterior aspect is cheer- 
less in the extreme ; nothing is to be seen but long lines of fortification, and a few 
tall gable roofs and the spires of the principal churches, which tend rather to con- 
firm than relieve the general monotony. On reaching the end of the avenue 
a gate of tremendous strength presents its imposing masses to the traveller ; passing 
which, he finds himself on a long bridge, which crosses the moat and connects the 
external walls with an insulated intrenchment. Then a vast array of barriers, 
gates, portcullises, &c., defend the passage of a tunnel, through which the visiter 
passes, and then over a second bridge, which spans the inner moat and leads to the 
town walls, which are defended by another gate of considerable strength. In 
making the passage of these works, the traveller is repeatedly stopped, and his per- 
son and passport examined with as much vigilance as though an hostile army were 
in the neighborhood. 

Tours is a city of France, and the capital of the department of Indre-and-Loire, 
on the Loire. It is situated on a delightful plain, in one of the finest parts of 
France, the surrounding country being remarkably beautiful. It contains a cathe- 
dral remarkable for its lofty spire and extensive library. The houses are generally 
low, and most of the streets are narrow and gloomy. But the Rue Neuve, or Roy- 
ale, is a street of great elegance, the houses being built of stone, on a uniform plan. 
The approach to the town is remarkably fine, the avenues being bordered with rows 
of trees. The principal manufacture is that of silk, which formerly employed in 
the town and neighborhood twenty thousand people ; but at present not more than 
one third of that number. Tours was formerly more populous than at present. 
Before the Revolution it was the capital of Touraine. In 732 the Saracens were 
defeated by Charles Martel, near this town, with the loss of ten thousand men. 
Tours contains ten thousand inhabitants, and it is one hundred and forty miles south- 
west of Paris. In the vicinity is an old chateau of Louis XL, called Plessis les 
Tours. " Th^ chateau of Plessis les Tours," says the old chronicler Saint Wan- 
dulfe, " presents, at first sight, three walls, rising one benind the other, each higher 
than that before it. In front of the first is a fosse filled with water and edged with 
long iron spikes. Before each of the other walls is a similar fosse, also defended 
by iron spikes. In the midst of these three fosses and ramparts is the chateau, 
composed of unequal buildings," fee. A late traveller remarks : " The wall now 
visible is certainly very ancient, and may be the remains of the outermost of the 
three mentioned by Saint Wandulfe. It is of considerable thickness, built of rough 
stone, firmly set together, and surrounds the chateau at some two or three hundred 
yards distance, enclosing within it a large space of ground. Saint Wandulfe men- 
tions nothing that answers to the old peasant's wood of walls ; he says only, that 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



141 




142 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

stones, fragments of rocks, rubbish, sand, fee, had been thrown on the ground 
around the chateau to prevent trees from growing there, in order that an enemy- 
might be seen from the turrets at the greatest distance possible. The ground about 
the building is now without any vestige of walls or rubbish, and covered with the 
richest crops. I moved off the road-way somewhat to the right without fear now 
of having my foot pierced by one of those iron caltrops, or of the chaussee-trappes, 
which, of old, waylaid the wanderer from the single road to the chateau; and by 
the assistance of a bank of earth, gained a full view of the building over the wall. 
The outside, alas ! called up little remembrance of former greatness. I saw before 
me a building, of no great size, two stories high, with modern windows, a lofty 
roof, and the tower I had noticed from a distance rising high above the roof on the 
other side, the whole raised, on this front, upon a superstructure or basement, which 
seemed to be open and unused by the inhabitants of the chateau. I inquired of the 
old peasant if he thought I might see the inside of the building. 'Ah, monsieur,' 
said he, ' a stranger from Languedoc, I believe, took it a year since ; he is a foul- 
tongued brute, a villain Chinois ; and since he has been there no one has been 
allowed to go inside of it.' 

" I however made my way first along the front of the building, which I before saw, 
to the basement-story I had noticed under the main pile of the chateau. This I 
found consisted of a set of vaults which had no communication at present with the 
rest of the building. The little light that found its way in by the door and the deep 
grated loopholes in the outer wall did not allow me to judge whether there had ever 
been any opening through the roof communicating with the rooms above. These 
vaults are built of hewn stone, and evidently of very old mason-work ; and if they 
have never served for dungeons, their villanous aspect much belies them. The 
building raised upon them is of brick, and although now in decay, of much more 
recent date than the vaults themselves. It seems probable, I think, that the line of 
building marked by these vaults originally opened upon an inner court of the old 
palace, the other sides of which are now destroyed. Attempting to get round the 
building from this side, I found myself stopped by a wall which I had not before 
perceived, running at right angles to this front. I turned back, rested myself in the 
cool shade of the vaults, and stole a luncheon of grapes from a neighboring vine. 
I then marched up to the gateway, pushed in the porte-cohere, and entered the en- 
closure. I was on an enclosed plat, elevated, by at least the height of the vaults I 
had just left, above the surrounding grounds, bounded on the left by the chateau, in 
the front and on the right opening (with a dwarf wall) over vine-yards and maize- 
grounds, and enclosed on the side I had entered by a line of outbuildings and the 
gateway ; near the centre was an alley of trees, and at the corner between the two 
open sides stood a little open summer-house. I had hardly completed my survey 
when I perceived a servant coming toward me, and, at a little distance, the redoubt- 
able master of the mansion himself I addressed the latter, hat in hand, with the 
best French compliment I could muster; he replied, I rejoined, and he answered ; 
but what was odd, all civilly enough, and with a mighty strange Languedoc accent. 
At last, looking him full in the face, ' I think, sir,' said I, ' that I have the pleasure 
of addressing a brother Briton.' — ' Faith, you're right, sir, for I come from the 
County Cork ; and somehow I thought all the time you must be an Englishman.' 
The mystery was soon explained : the ' villain Chinois' from Languedoc had left 
some time before, and my fellow-countryman had only just taken possession of the 
chateau. He insisted on showing me over the whole building himself The brick 
pile is, as I supposed, of comparatively modern date ; the rooms in it lofty and well- 
proportioned, but looking melancholy from neglect. The approach to these roon)s 
is by the tower, which stands at the corner of the building, and carries a stone 
staircase built on the principle of the turret staircases in England, but with steps of 
magnificent width and easy ascent: the vault overhead finely turned, and the sup- 
ports — corbels, I fancy, the architects call them — exquisitely carved. Here your 
antiquary is on safe ground: Louis certainly used these stairs; in the rooms which 
are above, his son (Charles VIII.) passed his childhood. The tyrant may have 
chuckled over a new fraud, or meditated some fresh hypocrisy, or for an instant 
thought fondly of his infant boy, while his eye rested on these very sculptures you 
now admire. But, alas! for antiquaries and sentimental travellers, the two upper 
stories of the tower were raised by the last proprietor, with the intention of turning 
the tyrant's abode into a shot manufactory. This grand staircase and the vaults 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



143 




Present state of Plfessis lea Tours. 

below the building are the principal remains of the time of Louis XL in the chateau 
itself. And is this all, thought I, that remains of the towers and fortifications and 
halls of the palace of Plessis les Tours! where the doorways were defended with 
thick gratings, the windows armed with spikes of iron, the approaches to which 
were filled with pitfalls and chaussee-trappes, and the prospect from the royal 
apartments ornamented by the gibbets which the king and his companion-hangman 
Tristan so liberally honored with victims; a palace inhabited only by the king and 
the ministers of his cruelties, and to which even the members of the royal family 
approached through a low narrow wicket, answering to the challenge of the numer- 
ous guards with the watchword of the day, and submitting to have their persons 
searched before entering the presence of the monarch. Little, indeed, remains of 
the abode of the tyrant, whose ill deeds have been cloaked under the title of 'Resto- 
rer of the Monarchy ;' and the daily changes taking place from the state of the 
property will probably soon sweep away that little, and leave the scene of so much 
political craft and of so many crimes a maize-field or a vineyard. 

" The summer-pavilion on the terrace, which consists of a slated roof resting on 
arches of -wood-work, covers the site of the oubliettes, where the victim to be con- 
signed to oblivion was precipitated through a trap into a deep pit. There is no 
English name, thank Heaven, for this accursed invention, but almost every ancient 
chateau throughout France boasts its oubliettes. On the side of the terrace, about 



144 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

midway between the pavilion and gateway, is the site of the cavern-cell in which 
Cardinal Balue, when imprisoned for treason, was allowed to sleep at night, being 
suspended during the day in one of those iron cages of which the miserable man 
was himself the inventor. The terrace-wall at this spot is about ten feet above the 
surrounding field. The cell was entered by an opening in front of the wall, and the 
chateau and the field below falling into the possession of different parties, this tor- 
ture-hole became appropriately enough the subject of a lawsuit. The owner of 
the field asserted the cell belonged to him, for the only entrance to it was from his 
land ; the owner of the chateau claimed it because it was hollowed out of his ter- 
race ; and the judge decided the cause by ordering the hole to be filled up. In the 
field below, going from this cell to the gate-side, and not far from the gateway and 
of the chateau, still stands a rude oratory and confessional, built of stone, to which 
the victims of the cruel and superstitious Louis were hurried before passing to the 
oubliette. Beside it is a stone cot, which they show as the residence of the king's 
favorite 'gardener. 

" Below the terrace, on the south, that is, the side between the pavilion and the 
chateau, is another wall, detached, I believe, from the terrace, and running parallel 
to it ; this the people of the neighborhood say is as old as the time of Louis XL, 
but it seems too slightly built to have lasted so many centuries. In this wall, and 
nearly facing the old tower, is a small doorway leading into the outer enclosure, or 
paddock, as one might call it. The old main wall, as I before mentioned, surrounds 
this paddock, and just outside this boundary-wall, nearly in a line with the small 
doorway, stands the old house, once the residence of Francois de Paule, the last 
confes,sor of the terrible Louis. Louis, as the chronicles tell us, allowed his palac^ 
to be approached only by winding and fortified paths ; but the tradition here is, 
that, for the convenience of communicating with his confessor in his last illness, he 
made a direct approach from this house to the chateau, and that it passed through 
the small doorway in the inner wall which I have spoken of. There is no longer 
any opening through the outer wall toward the house, but that may have been filled 
up when the property within and that without this boundary passed into different 
hands." 

But if Plessis les Tours furnishes sorrowful reminiscences, it has others of glory. 
In the great hall of the palace Louis XII. received the reward of his virtues. This 
Louis figures in Scott's romance as the duke of Orleans, and in that touching scene 
in the Hall of Roland at Plessis les Tours. 

On the death of Charles VIII. (son of Louis XL) without leaving issue, the duke 
of Orleans became king of France, by the name of Louis XII. In 1506 he assem- 
bled the states-general in the great hall of Plessis les Tours. Bricot, canon of 
Notre Dame, addressed the king and the assembly, and after eloquently recounting 
the good done by Louis, the pardon of his enemies, the reduction of imposts, his 
victories abroad, his purification of the judicial tribunal at home, he exclaimed : 
" How shall your subjects repay you ? Deign, sire, to accept the title of Father of 
the People, which they offer you this day by my voice." The whole assembly on 
their knees urged the orator's request, and Louis, with many tears, assured them 
that title was the most acceptable gift his subjects could have made him. 

About the middle of the last century Plessis les Tours was converted by the gov- 
ernment into a house of correction for vagrants. 

La Rochelle is situated in the department of the Lower Charante. It stands on 
the shores of the Atlantic ocean, one hundred miles northwest of Bordeaux. It is 
well built and strongly fortified (by Vauban), and contains many handsome squares 
and fountains. The harbor is safe and commodious, but is accessible for large vessels 
only at high water ; and the Place d'Armes, or du Chateau, is one of the finest in 
France. Glass, stoneware, and refined sugar, are the principal articles manufactured, 
and it has a considerable commerce with the United States ; sending to our shores 
in the course of the year, many cargoes of brandy, wine, &c. Rochelle is chiefly 
remarkable at the stronghold of the French protestants in the times of the house of 
Valois, and of the first Bourbons. In 1627, it was besieged by Richelieu, and was 
reduced by famine, after a heroic defence, in which fifteen thousand of the besieged 
perished. A great number of the inhabitants fled to North America. La Rochelle 
has a population of rather more than eighteen thousand persons. 

The fourteen departments which the basin of the Seine comprises contain about 
one sixth of the total population of France. In one of these departments there is the 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCS. 



145 




146 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

capital, with its million of inhabitants; and in another, Rouen, the Manchester of 
France. The soil of this region is fertile, and agriculture is in an advanced state. 
Greater industry and superior resources enable the population to command a larger 
share of necessaries and luxuries than twice the number of the population enjoy in 
those parts of France which are less favored by nature and circumstances. The 
Seine, and its tributaries the Aube, the Yonne, the Marne, the Oise, the Eure, and 
the Rille, with the Aisne, the Ourcq, and Grand Morin, are navigable for an aggregate 
length of nearly one thousand nyles. Thus the interchange of raw materials and 
manufactures is rendered easy throughout the whole of this important portion of the 
country. The two great ports of the basin of the Seine are Rouen and Havre. Rouen 
is about the same distance from the sea as London, and during the middle ages 
engrossed the maritime commerce of the Seine. Vessels of from two hundred and 
fifty to three hundred tons can get up to the town. Perhaps, however, the principal 
cause which, rendered Rouen a place of commercial importance during the unsettled 
periods of European history was the greater security which it offered, as the ports 
on the coast were exposed to the attacks of pirates and other rovers of the sea. In 
the sixteenth century these enemies were no longer dreaded, and Havre, then a small 
place, inhabited by fishermen, from its situation at the mouth of the Seine, was much 
resorted to by mariners. In 1509, Louis XII. laid the foundations of a town. His 
successor, Francis I., surrounded it with walls, and in 1618 the Cardinal Richelieu 
added a strong citadel to the fortifications. Louis XVI. and Napoleon both encouraged 
the prosperity of Havre, and, from about the year 1783, its commercial prosperity has 
been constantly increasing, and consuls from the principal commercial nations of 
the world now reside there. Havre is the only eligible harbor between this portion 
of the coast and Cherbourg. It is on the right bank of the Seine, which is here 
several miles wide. There are two roadsteads, and the harbor consists of three 
basins in the heart of the town, communicating with each other, and capable of 
containing five hundred vessels, including the largest merchant ships. The tide 
rises to a height of from twenty-two to twenty-seven feet, and the vessels are always 
afloat in the harbor. Cape la Heve, two miles and a half west of the town, is a 
headland about one hundred and thirty yards high, on which there are two handsome 
lighthouses about fifty feet high. 

A short time before the revolution of 1789, Rouen made an efi'ort to obtain a share, 
of foreign commerce, which its rival at the mouth of the river had engrossed. When 
ships of a large size began to be employed in distant voyages, the navigation of the 
Seine up to Rouen was not considered safe for this class of vessels, and Rouen only 
participated in the coasting-trade. But about the middle of the last century the 
obstacles which the navigation of the Seine presented were carefully examined, and 
an enterprising individual, conceiving that they were not of so formidable a nature 
as had been generally supposed, built a large vessel suitable for the foreign trade. 
His example was soon followed, and ixiany other vessels were built with a similar 
object by joint-stock companies. The foreign commerce of Rouen was rapidly in- 
creasing when the revolution put an end to its prosperity. Since 1814 it has revived, 
but Rouen has not obtained the rank which it formerly occupied, probably in con- 
sequence of the direction of capital and industry to manufactures, as well as the in- 
feriority of its situation to the port of Havre. The foreign trade of Rouen is however 
respectable, and a direct intercourse is maintained with Portugal, Spain, the Levant, 
the north of Europe, and with America ; the number of vessels engaged in foreign 
trade exceeding one hundred annually, while nearly the same number of foreign 
vessels are entered inward. The foreign trade of Havre is more than five times 
greater then that of Rouen; but the quantity of goods brought to Rouen by coasting 
vessels, and barges, which navigate the rivers and canals, is as eight to five, com- 
pared with the extent of this branch of the trade at Havre : one fourth of the coasting 
trade carried on between the difi"erent ports of France situated on the Atlantic sea- 
board is engrossed by the two ports. In 1836 there arrived inward at the port of 
Havre six hundred and three vessels belonging to foreign countries, five hundred and 
one French vessels engaged in the foreign trade, one hundred and eighty-five English 
packets, one hundred and nine large coasting vessels, besides nearly three thousand 
small vessels navigating the Seine and its tributaries. Havre engrosses the largest 
share of the trade between France and the United States of America. Packets sail 
regularly for New York, Vera Cruz, Bahia, Lisbon, Hamburg, and Southampton. 
The number of packets on the New York station is sixteen ; and with Amsterdam, 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— FRANCE. 



147 




148 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



Hamburg, Southampton, Rouen, and Paris, the intercourse is maintained by steam- 
boats. 

The value of the imports at Havre in 1829 amounted to $50,000,000 ; the imports 
of raw cotton amounting to |5,500,000 ; and of sugar to $9,000,000. Havre and 
Marseilles are the only ports of France in which raw cotton is admitted. Other 
imports of Havre consisted of coifee, indigo, dye-woods, hides, iron, tin. The cus- 
toms' duty amounts to $5,000,000 annually. The usual exports are silk and woollen 
goods, wines, brandies, lace, gloves, perfumery, trinkets, and articles of Parisian 
manufacture, perfumery, &c. Soap, starch, vitriol, and earthenware are manufac- 
tured in the town, and there are also breweries, sugar-refining-houses, shipyards, and 
rope manufactories, which give employment to considerable numbers. Many sea- 
men are employed in the herring, cod, and whale fisheries ; and the wives of sailors 
and artisans obtain work as lace-makers. 

The town is divided into the old and new quarters, the houses in the former being 
ill-built, while those of the new quarter are much superior in appearance, and the 
streets are better lighted. Ingouville is a populous and pleasant suburb, containing 
the country-houses of the merchants. The population of the town and suburbs does 
not exceed 30,000. The customhouse is a large building, but the public buildings 
arc, on the whole, rather of an inferior order. There is a fine public square planted 
with trees, which forms an agreeable promenade. The principal local institutions 
are a court for the settlement of commercial disputes, several literary and scientific 
establishments, a public library, containing above 15,000 volumes, a museum of 
natural history, a high school and school of navigation, and a school for geometry 
applied to the arts. 




Oyster Dredger on the Coast of France. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 149 



CHAPTER VL— PORTUGAL. 

Portugal is but a small c.puntry, in the form of an oblong square, extending from 
37° to 42° north latitude. Its greatest length is about three hundred and fifty miles, 
from north to south, and its breadth averages about one hundred and fifteen miles ; 
consequently, the area of its surface is about forty thousand square miles, and it is 
therefore not much more than one fifth the size of France. Yet the fleets and com- 
merce of Portugal, at one time, were more extensive than those of any country in 
Europe ; and for two centuries, the Portuguese were equally pre-eminent as adven- 
turous and successful navigators. Madeira, the Azores, and parts of the Gold Coast, 
were settled bj^ them early in the fourteenth century, and the kings of Portugal 
placed themselves at the head of that enthusiastic ardor, which, stimulated by the 
hope of finding a way by sea to the countries from which Europeans received ivory, 
gold-dust, and other commodities, across the desert, was at length successful in ac- 
complishing its object. The Poruguese led the way from Europe to India, by sea ; 
they planted colonies on the shores of the African continent, from its northern ex- 
tremities almost to its southern headland ; they held possession of extensive territo- 
ries in India, by the right of conquest, and claimed for themselves the exclusive 
right of navigating the Indian seas. In the new world, Brazil was one of the ear- 
liest European settlements ; and Lisbon became the great European mart for the 
productions of India, Africa, and America. Being the first to open new paths to 
commercial enterprise, and engrossing the trade with newly-discovered countries, 
great profits were made. When the trade to India was carried on overland, Venice 
was better situated as an entrepot for the productions of the east, than Lisbon ; but 
when they were brought by sea, Lisbon, situated between the north and south of 
Europe, was most conveniently placed. The Portuguese endeavored to secure to 
themselves, if possible, the exclusive advantages which their adventurous spirit had 
placed in their hands. No other country was allowed to participate in the trade to 
the Portuguese settlements ; and the right to traffic with the natives of newly-dis- 
covered countries was permitted only to those who had sufficient interest to obtain a 
license, and who were often worthless adventurers. Though, for a considerable 
period, commerce flourished, and profits were great, the system of monopolies, both 
in the colonies and at home, was sure to undermine the prosperity of the country, at 
some future period ; and many subsequent evils are to be traced to illiberal restric- 
tions, framed in the hope of excluding other countries ftom the African, Indian, or 
trans-Atlantic trade. These eff'orts to maintain a monopoly were fruitless; and 
when other nations became their competitors, Portugal was in her turn shut out from 
profitable branches of foreign commerce. Thus she was left to her monopolies. 
Manufactures declined, though, having such extensive colonies, it might have been 
expected that the demands on the industry of the mother-country would have greatly 
increased ; and the direct object of their restrictive system had been to promote the 
interests of Portugal. Political events rapidly hastened the crisis which would, 
sooner or later, have been occasioned by the unsound commercial policy of the 
country. In the fifteenth century, Portugal was successfully struggling for maritime 
and commercial pre-eminence ; in the sixteenth century this object had been ob- 
tained, and the people were reaping the benefits of their enterprise ; but from 1580, 
when Portugal was annexed to Spain, its long and melancholy decline commenced. 
The authority of the mother-country being relaxed, its connexion with the colonies 
was weakened, and it was not powerful enough to defend them against aggressions, 
so that, one by one, they fell into the hands of the Dutch or English. Of all its pos- 
sessions in Africa, India, and the new world, only Madeira, Azores, and one or two 
settlements in Africa and India, now remain. 

In 1640, Portugal once more became an independent state under the sovereigns of 
the house of Braganza. But this revival of its political life failed in quickening in- 
dustry and commerce, which had gradually sunk into insignificance ; and though in 
fact nominally independent, the principles of vitality which should have rallied and 
invigorated public spirit were so stagnant, that foreign support was required to sus- 
tain the tottering state. 



150 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Under the administration of Pombal, a minister of superior energy, the country 
had displayed some signs of life, and useful reforms had been effected ; but both 
were transient benefits, disappearing when the influence by which they had been 
produced was no longer felt. In 1807, amid the distractions occasioned by foreign 
invasion, the royal family of Portugal emigrated to Brazil, and from that time until 
the close of the war, life and property were insecure, and industry languished. 
After the peace, when the nation began to improve their internal resources, Portugal 
was not permitted to enjoy the same tranquillity, but was disturbed by civil dissen- 
sions, which raged from 1820 to the expulsion of Don Miguel, in 1834, and were 
but ill-calculated to stimulate industry, or to alloAV of the commencement of those 
enterprises which render a nation prosperous. But the energy and vigor which had 
distinguished the Portuguese of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, were no longer 
the characteristics of the nation. Ignorance and misgovernment had produced their 
wonted effects. The foreign trade of Portugal, once more extensive than that of any 
other power, was chiefly carried on at the two ports of Lisbon and Oporto, with 
English capital ; and but for the same stimulus, even the work of reproduction 
would have ceased in many instances. 

At the termination of the late civil war, all the interests of Portugal were, as may 
be supposed, in a struggling condition ; and the physical causes which obstruct the 
internal activity of the country, necessarily render it a work of time to overcome 
these difficulties. Portugal consists, in a great measure, of mountain-ridges divided 
by chasms. Alemtejo and Beira are the only provinces which contain plains of any 
extent. The rivers are few, and in summer, even some which are navigable at other 
seasons are nearly dry ; there are no canals, and the roads are wretched. Thus the 
traffic between one part of the country and another, is insignificant, and local preju- 
dices, of the most antiquated date, hold undisputed sway in petty districts, cut off 
from each other by ravines and desolate tracts. These circumstances have also 
their political influence. At present the country is too poor to construct good roads, 
but Roman energy overcame the natural difficulties which the surface presented, and 
there are the remains of highways which they formed. The want of roads is 
greatest in the south, but in the northern provinces the main roads are tolerably 
good, and there are bridges where they are required, but these are of ancient date, 
and not the result of recent improvements. The crossroads resemble the tracks 
which cover the vast steppes of Russia. There are neither stage-coaches nor any 
system established, by which travellers may pursue their journey with post-horses ; 
Portugal, in this test of civilization, ranking lower than any other country in Europe. 
The inns are few in number, and afford very poor accommodation, and indeed, are 
only to be found in the larger towns. It is evident that there are few arrangements 
based on the locomotive habits of the people. The wheel-carriages which are in 
use are in keeping with the roads over which they are to travel, and on many of the 
roads, conveyance by wheel-carriages is not possible, and goods are carried on the 
backs of mules. But even on the best roads, a clumsy cart, drawn by bullocks, is 
used, and the rate of travelling is about thirty miles in twenty-four hours ; while the 
cost of this imperfect mode of transit is so great, that the carriage of wines from 
some of the inland districts, not very far from Lisbon, is equal to the cost of the 
article conveyed. Oxen are almost universally used for draught, horses seldom 
being employed, and they are therefore not numerous; mules are much in request. 
In the streets of Lisbon, even, primitive-looking carriages may be seen, and also 
heard, as they creak along, drawn by a couple of bullocks. The want of good 
roads, and the difficulty of transporting commodities from place to place, would 
alone suffice to keep a country in a depressed condition ; but in Portugal, these ne- 
cessary aids to the development of the national prosperity not only are wanting, but 
this evil is aggravated by a number of other causes, the united effects of which are 
sufficient to account for the low state in which the public interests were found, at the 
close of the late civil war. 

The coasts and rivers of Portugal abound with fish, and in the sixteenth century 
the Portuguese were rather extensively engaged in the Newfoundland fishery, but at 
the period of which we speak, and long before, the fisheries on their own coast sup- 
plied only a limited proportion of the home demand, and the Norwegians, Swedes, 
Dutch, English, and Americans, furnished the remainder. The consumption is very 
great, and but for a tax of twenty per cent, on the produce of the coast-fisheries, it 
is inconceivable how so natural a source of employment should have been neglected. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 151 

Manufactures, at the same period, were unimproved. No new machinery was in- 
troduced, and the commonest and most obvious contrivances for abridging manual 
labor, were not adopted. The consequence of this low state of art and ingenuity- 
was, that the manufactures of woollens, hats, glass, and eartheuAvare, cottons, &c., 
were of the coarsest description, sheepskins being not unfrequently worn for clothing 
in the remote parts of the country. Privileged manufactories, secured in their mo- 
nopoly by licenses, will partly account for th^ inferiority of Portuguese manufactures. 
The right of manufacturing tobacco, soap, and some other articles, was also farmed 
out. The common handicrafts were in a rude state. The retail-dealers, who in 
other countries are anxious to obtain custom, are in Portugal apathetic, and too in- 
different to give themselves trouble for the sake of obliging a purchaser. 

The mines of lead, iron, copper, and other metals, and the quarries of fine marble, 
all once profitably worked, were neglected. In the fourteenth century, when the 
population of Portugal was greater than at present, sufficient corn was grown to 
admit of some quantity being exported ; but when trade had dwindled, and agricul- 
ture was the chief resource left, Portugal had become a grain-importing country. 
Butter and cheese are imported in considerable quantities from England and Hol- 
land. Cows are seldom kept, goats' milk being usually used. The wool of the 
sheep in the plains of Beira is of good quality, and greater attention might be ad- 
vantageously paid to the fleece, which would become an important article of ex- 
change with other countries. The development of the agricultural resources of Por- 
tugal ought, indeed, now to be the great object of her rulers. With a fine climate, 
and a soil favorable to the production of corn, wine, oil, and a variety of fruits, the 
aggregate riches of the country might be easily increased. Maize and rice are 
raised ; potatoes are not much cultivated. If irrigation were more generally prac- 
tised, and other improvements introduced, the surplus produce of the soil would not 
be confined to fruits, such as oranges, lemons, citrons, almonds, chestnuts, &c., which 
it requires little exertion to render profitable objects of cultivation. The olive is 
rather extensively cultivated ; but the produce is chiefly consumed at home, the oil 
forming one of the commonest ingredients of cookery in Portugal. The cork-tree 
is also a profitable native production. But the vine is the most valuable ; and when, 
in 1765, in accordance with the spirit in which the industry of the country was reg- 
ulated, the vineyards of the Douro and Mondego were partially converted into corn 
lands by order of the government, they did not remain long diverted from their for- 
mer more profitable uses. 

It is estimated that four fifths of the population of Portugal are employed in agri- 
culture ; in France the proportion is two thirds, and in England one third. The total 
population of the kingdom is about 3,500,000, and the relative number of inhabitants 
per square mile is greater than in Spain, Denmark, Poland proper, and Prussian 
Poland, and rather more than one half the proportion of England and Wales. The 
most populous province is that of the Douro and Minho ; and if the other parts of 
the kingdom were as densely peopled, the number of inhabitants would exceed 
10,000,000 ; while if they were as thinly scattered as in the large province of 
Alemtejo, they would not amount to 1,500,000. 

Lisbon and Oporto are the only ports of considerable importance in Portugal. 
The entrance of the Tagus is magnificent, and ships of burden come close up to the 
town ; but how sadly has the commerce of this once-famous entrepot declined ! At 
one period, four hundred large ships traded between Lisbon and South America, 
besides those which were employed in the trade with Africa, India, and China, and 
with the Moluccas and other distant parts ; but the whole foreign shipping of the 
country has now dwindled to fifty vessels ; and in 1838, only three hundred and 
twenty-four vessels entered the Tagus, including steamboats which arrive from Eng- 
land once a week, the aggregate tonnage of these three hundred and twenty-four 
vesisels being fifty-three thousand seven hundred and twenty-eight tons. 

The manner in which the decline of foreign commerce occurred, may be easily 
explained. When the Dutch and English, instead of obtaining the produce of 
America and the Indies from Lisbon, proceeded direct to those parts of the globe, 
Lisbon ceased to be the great depot, which circumstances had temporarily made 
her. The trade with Brazil was, however, preserved until within the last few 
years; but the monopoly of Portugal ceased when Brazil became an independent 
country, and England and other countries carry on a direct trade for cotton, sugar, 
and those articles of Brazilian produce which the mother-country formerly required 



152 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

to be brought to Lisbon, previous to tlieir distribution in Europe. The produce and 
manufactures of Europe, also, instead of reaching the Brazilians from Lisbon, are 
received direct from the countries whose industry has given them an exchangeable 
value. The obstacles to a more extensive export trade of the native productions of 
Portugal arise to a great extent from the cost and labor of conveying goods and mer- 
chandise ; and thus, beyond a certain distance from places which are near a ship- 
ping-port, or possess some facilities for reaching it, the stimulus to production which 
foreign commerce excites, is not very strongly experienced. Still, the trade of Lis- 
bon is extensive, as there are few seaports in Portugal, and mercantile operations 
are concentrated chiefly in Lisbon and Oporto. The population of Lisbon is about 
260,000. Oporto, a view of which is given, is the second port of the kingdom, and 
delightfully situated on two hills near the mouth of the Douro, which winds among 
steep hills crowned with woods. It is on the left bank of the river, the suburb of 
Villa Nova being opposite, and connected with Oporto by a bridge of boats. Oporto 
appears to great advantage after escaping from the filth of Lisbon. The immense 
magazines of the great wine company are prominent objects of interest. The pop- 
ulation amounts to about 70,000. There are, of course, many small ports, but, with 
the exception of St. Ubes, they are merely the resort of coasting-vessels. About 
five hundred vessels load annually at St. Ubes with bay-salt, which Portugal ex- 
ports to the extent of one hundred thousand tons annually. Ships with fish take 
back cargoes of this salt, which is of a good quality. 

There are but few rivers which exhibit so many of the beauties of nature, com- 
prised in one view, as the Tagus near its mouth ; and but very few cities which 
possess so many circumstances contributing to picturesque effect as Lisbon. The 
capital of Portugal is built upon a range of hills, which form the termination of the 
Guadarama mountains, after having traversed the provinces of Beira and Estremadura. 
Seven of these hills are covered by the city ; and they may be classed in three groups, 
namely, Lisbon, or those occupied by the castle of St. George, the convents of St. 
Vicenti de Fora and La Gracia, Campo d'Orique, &c., &c., which form the upper 
and principal part of the city, in which are the government offices, palace of the 
Cortes, arsenals, &c. ; Buenos Ayres, containing the palace of the Necessidades, 
Estrella, &c. ; and Belem ; the valley of Alcantara divides the two latter groups, 
which is crossed by a bridge dedicated to St. Peter. On entering the Tagus, after 
having passed Fort St. Julien, the old tower or castle of Belem is the first object we 
arrive at. 

This beautiful specimen of the Moresque style of architecture stands on the sandy 
beach of the Tagus, at the point of a small bay, covering Lisbon from the sea, in 
conjunction with the Bouje, or Lighthouse Fort, *on the opposite side of the bar. 
The batteries, which extend from the tower along the bank of the river, though 
almost entirely ruined by the French and by neglect, still mount sufficient guns to 
make them formidable. Behind the tower stands the convent of St. Jeronimo, now 
called the Casapia, or house of charity. To describe this building so that any idea 
might be formed of its extreme beauty or elaborate workmanship would be impossi- 
ble : the sculpture-covered chapel, with its walls and pillars and roof of white 
marble, the beautiful quadrangle, with its delightful fountain, the minaret-shaped 
buttresses, are each sufficient for a treatise ; suffice it to say, that tbere is scarcely 
a stone in the building but has some elegant Moresque device carved upon it. 
Casapia signifies literally " house of pity" — the word (pia) being an abbreviation of 
piedade, pity — it is therefore appropriated to the preservation and education of 
orphans, and such children as are deserted by their parents, from whatsoever cause. 
The inanner of placing children there is as follows : Near the door is a circular box, 
in which the infant is laid, with the name desired written on a piece of paper, as 
well as any private sign by which it may be reclaimed at any future period ; the 
box then turns on a pivot, and its burden is thus introduced to the interior. Many 
persons too. poor to educate their ofi'spring, deposite them here, as at any future 
period, should their fortunes prove more prosperous, they may recover them on the 
payment of a certain fine : the females are educated, and the product of their industry 
forms part of their marriage portion ; the males are taught a useful trade or profession, 
and when arrived at a proper age are set up in business, or provided for in some 
suitable calling. The convent is enormously rich, as few persons make their wills 
without remembering the Casapia. It was from the front of this convent that Vasco 
de Gama took leave of Portugal when embarking on that memorable expedition 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 



153 




-.- ;■, 4 J*\*\\ 



154 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

which has ranked his native land as one of the first maritime countries in the world 
at that time. 

Near the convent of St. Jeronimo are the royal gardens and summer lodge of the 
queen ; the building is plain, in the villa style, and the gardens tastelessly laid out 
and badly kept. The town of Belem is small and irregular, although the great 
number of quintas and palaces of the nobility give it an appearance of great beauty. 
The height immediately in the rear of the gardens is crowned with the large and 
unfinished palace of the Adjuda ; only the side toward the city has been finished, 
and about two thirds of that facing the water: enough, however, has been done to 
give an idea of the design. The finished front consists of two stories, flanked at each 
end by square towers one story higher, and ornamented with two rows of pilasters, 
the lower of the Doric, and the upper of the Ionic order ; a window is placed in each 
intercolumniation, except in the centre, where their place is supplied, in the lower 
story, by three archways, leading into the interior quadrangle ; the centre projects 
but very little from the body of the building, and has a heavy and unpleasing effect ; 
the towers are surmounted by trophies, and the entrances ornamented with statues, 
whose ill proportions and clumsy execution show but too plainly the low ebb of the 
fine arts in Portugal. The view wliich this building commands, from its elevated 
position, is one of unrivalled grandeur ; and should it ever be finished, v/ill form a 
most delightful as well as noble residence for the monarchs of Portugal ; but it is 
much to be doubted whether the national funds will ever be in so flourishing a con- 
dition as to afford the means of finishing so great an undertaking. 

Lisbon, as indeed all the cities of the peninsula, abounds with convents and re- 
ligious houses. These edifices give an air of beauty and grandeur to places which 
otherwise would be unworthy of notice ; but in Lisbon, where such fine opportunities 
occur, through the inequalities of the ground, for placing buildings in prominent 
situations, they become objects of admiration, whether we look on them in the mass, 
as adding to the beautiful appearance of the city by their innumerable towers and 
belfries, or whether we consider them singly as works of art. The great defect of 
public edifices in England is the want of a proper point of sight ; thus the most 
celebrated buildings, such as St. Paul's, can be viewed only in detail, the effect as a 
whole being entirely lost; but in Lisbon sufficient space is generally left to select a 
point whence the entire building may be seen at one view. Those in the heart of 
the city have large squares in front, while those on the heights generally stand in 
solitary grandeur. Among the sacred edifices of Lisbon, the one represented in our 
engraving is the largest, though perhaps not the most beautiful in architectural design, 
being surpassed by the Estrella (chapel of the stars). The church, however, is a 
fine specimen of that peculiar species of classic architecture which prevails so much 
in Portugal. It consists of two square towers of three stories, each story being 
ornamented with Doric pilasters ; the upper ones form the belfry, and are surmounted 
with octagonal domes and lanterns: the centre, between the towers, is divided into 
three compartments by pilasters of the same order, the ground-floor having three 
gates of exquisite workmanship, surmounted by niches and statues, while three 
windows occupy the spaces in the upper story ; and a magnificent flight of steps leads 
up to the portal. It would be a vain task to attempt a description of the interior, as 
every chapel would require a separate account ; so lavish have been the founders of 
their wealth, and the architects so profuse of ornament. . The convent itself, which 
joins the church, though not ugly, possesses, few points worthy of remark. The 
monastic houses of Portugal are all built pretty nearly on the same plan, and one 
description may serve for all ; they are squares of various shapes, some being oblongs 
of various degrees, and some perfect squares: a long passage runs completely round 
the building on the upper stories, on the outer side of which are the dormitories or 
cells of the rnonks — small square apartments, with a window looking outward. The 
lower floor is occupied by the refectory, the kitchen, the dispensario, and other 
offices ; while seyeral large apartments are left for social meeting or for council. 
The interior quadrangle is surrounded by a cloister, and the centre is occupied by a 
garden and fountain. 

The vows made by the inmates of these houses were often curious and whimsical, 
and the means taken to avoid an absolute breach ingenious. Thus the monks of 
St. Vicenti, who were all nobles, had a vow not to walk beyond the precincts of their 
convent : the consequence was, that they invariably rode in carriages ; and their 
immense wealth enabled them to keep the best equipages in Lisbon. This convent 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 



155 




156 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

was erected by King John III. ; and it is worthy of remark that the architect fell in 
the fatal expedition of Dom Sebastian III., in the year 1577. 

The next convent in size is that of La Gracia, which crowns the summit of a hill, 
forming a triangle with the castle and St. Vicenti, but is entirely destitute of archi- 
tectural beauty. Since the suppression of the monastic orders in Portugal, this con- 
vent is converted into a barrack, and is capable of quartering 5,000 or 6,000 men, 
when in perfect repair ; but only one wing being used, the rest is suffered to fall into 
decay, a great part being unroofed. 

The chapel of St. Roque, near the palace of the Marquis Quintilla, is, perhaps, 
the richest of its size in the world. The pillars to the altar are formed of one piece 
of lapis-lazuli, and the pavement and walls are mosaics of the most exquisite work- 
manship, and of inestimable value. It is said that when Junot, during his occupa- 
tion of the Portuguese capital, saw this chapel, he conceived the design of conveying 
the mosaics entire to France ; but the workmen, in the attempt to remove them, 
having loosened some of the stones, " Desist !" said he, " it shall not be said that Junot 
was barbarous enough to injure so beautiful a work of art." The story does not 
accord with the rapacious character of the French general, although the destruction 
of the beautiful in art could call forth a tear even from a Marius. 

The Estrella, or Church of the Stars, stands on the hill of Buenos Ayres. It is 
built in the Corinthian order, and forms one of the most picturesque objects in the 
city : it serves as the chapel to the convent of the Heart of Jesus (Convento de Coracao 
de Jesus), and, from its proximity to the palace, and the frequent attendance of the 
queen, is more generally known as the Queen's chapel. The towers are exceedingly 
graceful and beautiful, and the noble dome is a perfect model. The portico is per- 
haps too small in proportion to the building, and indeed a tradition is preserved, that 
the architect perceiving this fault too late to rectify it, threw himself from the 
aqueduct, the central arch of which is three hundred and thirty feet in height. 

The convent of Necessidades is now occupied as the royal palace : it is a plain 
unsightly building ; nor has the painting of the front of a red color contributed to in- 
crease its beauty. 

After the magnificence, the grandeur, and the dazzling glitter of the national 
churches, there is an unpretending simplicity in the chapel of the British factory 
which touches the heart. There we seem freed from the burdensome pomps and 
pageants which dazzle the eye, but enter not the bosom ; and the hymn poured forth 
by the congregation seems to speak a language of calm devotion which it is impos- 
sible to feel when surrounded by the bustle which is constant in the foreign churches. 
The burial-ground is tastefully arranged ; thick rows of cypress-trees cast their 
mournful shadows over the quiet spot, and the rose and the lily may be seen bloom- 
ing amidst the habitations of the dead. 

The contrasts which Lisbon presents are very striking. Viewed as it rears itself 
amphitheatrically on the right bank of the Tajo, or Tagus, extending from east to 
west (from Xabegras to Belem) about seven leagues, and about three in breadth from 
south to north, it is no less imposing than captivating ; while many parts of the in- 
terior of the city — in fact, nearly all that portion which escaped the dreadful earth- 
quake of 1755 — are absolutely repulsive, being no better than a labyrinth of narrow, 
crooked, filthy streets — a chaos of habitations, gloomy and dismal to the eye, and 
unhealthy for their occupants. In the new town, on the contrary, which is daily en- 
larging itself, the principal streets are wide and long, many of them quite straight. 
and all intersected by lesser streets or lanes called traviesas. The houses, too, have 
a certain cheerfulness of aspect, the very reverse of the murkiness that characterizes 
those of the old city. They are generally from three to five stories in height, and 
several have gardens attached to them. Yet, "although the streets themselves are 
kept tolerably clean, they are for the most part unpaved, with the exception of trot- 
toirs along the sides. 

Although it may be asserted that, with the exception of the celebrated aqueduct, 
Lisbon does not possess a single building that will bear the test of critical examina- 
tion, or that can be reckoned a really fine piece of architecture, there are many which 
are striking enough in regard to decoration, and some which exhibit several beautiful 
parts. Of the two hundred and fifty churches which this city boasts, the principal 
are the Patriarchal church or cathedral, called also the -Se, and Santa Maria, a mod- 
ern edifice, which, notwithstanding its vast size, has an air of melancholy rather than 
of solemnity or grandeur ; the church Da Roia. remarkable for the magnificent chapel 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 



157 




158 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

of San Joan Bautesta, which John IV. caused to be fabricated at Rome, and afterward 
conveyed to Lisbon as a present to the Jesuits ; that called Do Caracao de Jesus, the 
largest and most splendid pile of any erected since the great earthquake, and which 
is crowned with a dome that in regard to its construction may be pronounced a work 
of surprising hardihood. This edifice serves also as the mausoleum of its foundress, 
Queen Maria I., the same who commenced the palace of Ajuda. 

The convents, formerly so numerous, are now all of them suppressed, and their 
spacious and magnificent buildings have either been converted to other purposes, or 
stand empty — that, for instance, called Necessidades is now the residence of the 
queen, and in that of San Bento the cortes now hold their sittings. Among the pub- 
lic buildings of this capital, the aqueduct Agoas-fivres is incontestably the finest — one 
of the noblest productions of modern architecture in all Europe, and one that may 
fairly challenge anything of the kind achieved by the ancients. Notwithstanding its 
being yet incomplete, and moreover displaying many defects, Ajuda is an imposing 
architectural pile, one of the finest royal palaces anywhere to be seen, and possesses, 
besides, a nobleness of site and prospect which hardly any other can boast of. 

We would fain attempt to convey some idea of the stir and bustle in the streets of 
this extensive, beautiful, and yet, it must be added, somewhat gloomy city. The last 
epithet is undoubtedly rather strongly contradictory to that which precedes it, and 
by no means very prepossessing ; nevertheless, its general aspect, with its masses of 
dingy gray buildings piled up on hills, and towers rearing their heads among them, and 
intermixed with numerous ruins of churches and private houses — ranges of bare and 
windowless walls — can not fail to impress every stranger with a feeling of melancholy. 
Yet is the city itself surrounded by nature in all its freshness and luxuriance — is can- 
opied by a joyous sky of azure — is laved by the green waves of the stream that flows 
up against its walls. Lisbon shows itself to the imagination as an elderly matron 
who has seated herself in a garden of roses, where she meditates on her gay youth- 
time, when all the world contended for her smiles ; perhaps, too, gives a thought to 
her children, who, far away from her, have established homes for themselves beyond 
the ocean, leaving their parent lonely and deserted. Is not such in fact the present 
condition of Lisbon? Severed from her by the Atlantic, Brasillia is now estranged 
also from her interests, which no longer touch that Avestern country ; and Africa, 
the bare recollection of Africa, aAvakens only sorrow, shame, and despondency. 

Strange is the mingled feeling of delight and disgust with which one wanders 
through its swarming streets. When the boat from which we landed first touched 
the steps leading up from the Tajo to the Prapa do Commercio, our bosoms beat wi:h 
joyous anticipations. A crowd of sunburnt, swarthy figures, with naktd feet and 
arms, and many of them with sufficiently ferocious visages, immediately surrounded 
us, boisterously proffering services we did not need. These were Barqueiros and 
Gallejos, of whom Lisbon, contains about 20,000, and who generally play a leading 
part in every political ferment or popular excitement. Such as happen to be unem- 
ployed may be seen basking in the sun, either stretched upon the ground, or lolling 
on the steps and balustrades along the river, accompanied by their wives and chil- 
dren, who, like themselves, "are sleeping or eating, or else purifying their persons, 
although not after the fashion of Mohammedan ablution. 

The Praca itself is a noble square ; but it appears singular that it should be suffered 
to become the haunt and rendezvous of the lowest part of the population, who seem 
to put no restraint upon their behavior in any one respect, but act just as their incli- 
nations prompt them, indifferent whether their actions seem decent or otherwise in 
the eyes of any one else ; in fact, little better than in a state of nature. Neither in 
Berlin, nor any other German city, would such things be tolerated as here pass for 
matters of course ; in none is such an equipage to be seen as that cart-like vehicle, 
drawn by asses, which its owner seems to consider part of his dignity. Then, again, 
what hideous wagons, with oxen yoked to them — what swarms of Moors and ne- 
groes, were they indeed but decently covered, but they are half, or more than half, 
naked. What repulsive figures, too, are the women one beholds here collected — not 
merely devoid of all feminine charms, but many of them with mustaches calculated 
to inspire in our military gallants no tenderer passion than that of envy. In one place 
may be seen, squatting round a fire, like so many Hottentots, a group of ragged, 
stockingless boys, who are occupied in roasting some kind of animal unheard-of in 
the annals of gastronomy. Perched on the shoulders of one of the party sits another 
epicure, to wit, a monkey, who is busily engaged in exploring the lad's unkempt 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 



159 




160 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

head for game, of which he doubtless finds abundance ; a little further on, passes hy 
a two-wheeled bier, or litter for the dead, dragged by mules ; this is succeeded by a 
procession of priests, attired in red robes ; and to make up the moving, motley scene, 
we see ladies in veils, pacing by with stately steps, attended by a negro ; sailors of 
all nations and complexions, from the jet-black African to the white-hued Dane; 
beggars of the most loathsome appearance, and smart, fashionably-dressed gentle- 
men, all intermingled in the strangest manner. 

Further on, before the portal of an extensive building, we behold soldiers; and 
the sight of regular military inspires a certain feeling of safety in the midst of this 
tumultuous scene. It is the barracks of the marines ; and a number of the men — 
all in good uniforms — are sitting, standing, or lying, on the ground around the 
entrance, smoking their cigars. Among them were, as we perceived on a closer 
inspection, many handsome and well-formed, though sunburnt, countenances ; and 
also several negroes, who cut a strange figure in their uniforms. Close behind us we 
hear the tinkling of a bell, and turning our heads behold a black seated in a small 
cart drawn by two sheep. The owner of this singular equipage was dressed in a 
blue jacket, very full of buttons — for which it appears the Portuguese have a par- 
ticular affection — and displayed, not only a Avhite shirt, but very deep ruffles. As 
soon as he saw that he had caught our attention, he held out his hat with a very gra- 
cious smile, nor was it till then that we discovered him to be a beggar who had losi 
both his legs. 

" Agoa I agoa !" is the cry incessantly kept up by the water-venders ; and a most 
lugubrious cry it is ; yet are the voices which utter it deep, sonorous, and not unhar- 
monious, although certainly too elegiac. The> hawkers of fish and poultry employ, 
on the contrary, if not a much more agreeable, a livelier tone; less poetical, per-: 
haps, but not altogether so dismal. Besides these vocal itinerant dealers, who 
invite custom by exercising their lungs, there are others who carry on their trade 
less noisily ; and to say the truth, the oranges, lemons, figs, majos, roses, and other 
flowers, with which that long cavalcade of mules and asses is laden, require not to 
be heralded by sound of voice, since both the sight and the scent from so delicious 
a freightage recommend it sufficiently to notice. 

Nothing is more common than to see cows milked at the doors of palaces, and 
innumerable hens, with their chickens, running about the streets, to say nothing of 
the swarms of dogs. The creaking and grating noise of a cart drawn by oxen, ' 
whose wheels are never greased until they threaten to catch fire, may be heard at 
half a mile's distance, as may likewise the jingling bells of a team of mules ; and as 
for cabriolets and other carriages, they drive at a very slow pace. On the other hand, 
there are more persons to be seen mounted on horseback than in almost any city in^ 
the world ; not, indeed, exactly on horseback either, the quadrupeds being generally 
mules or asses. 

In the Rua d'Auro, one of the handsomest streets, by-the-by, in all Lisbon, and 
that which leads to the se, or cathedral, I beheld a most singular — I might say hor- 
rible — procession, namely : of malefactors belonging to the extensive prison called 
Lamoeiro, who are in this manner conducted abroad at stated seasons for an airing, 
attended by a military guard. Their appearance was that of demons rather than 
of human beings ; nor can anything equal either their disgusting squalidity, or their 
no less disgusting atrocity of expression. The rattling of their chains, and the wild 
howl and gestures with which they extended forth their hands to passengers for 
alms, had something in them quite appalling ; even now it can hardly be reflected 
on without a shudder. By way of making an end of this catalogue of the various 
disagreeable sights one is compelled to encounter in the streets of Lisbon, we may 
mention the number of dogs without owners, that roam wild about the streets, 
prowling for food, and picking up what they can — often feeding on the most nauseous 
matter. Many of these wretched animals have no hair on iheir hides, and are cov- 
ered with biles and blotches, or otherwise shockingly disfigured by disease. What 
the condition of the streets, therefore, must be, may easily be imagined ; and yet 
they are noi in so abominable a state as formerly. Not many years ago it was the 
custom to make them the general receptacle for dirt and filth of all kinds ; but this 
has been put a stop to by the present government, and dirt-carts go about with bells, 
apprizing the citizens of their approach. At first it was very diSicult to make the 
good folks of Lisbon comply_ with this arbitrary innovation, but they seem now to be 
tolerably well reconciled to it. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 




162 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Having thus dwelt on the shadows of the picture, we are, in all fairness, bound 
to point out its lights and its particular beauties. What lends Lisbon no ordinary- 
interest and attraction, is the life and activity everywhere to be seen, and in which 
the natives of so many different lands bear their parts. And what prospect of the 
kind can be more noble and imposing than that of the majestic Tajo, with its thou- 
sands of vessels, as beheld from the Praca do Commercio, from that do Romulares, 
or from the Caes do Sodre ? We question whether any other city in the world can 
afford one equally fine. The shops, again, with the luxuriant display they make of 
oranges and other fruits of the south, and rich flowers, impart to the streets an air 
of joyousness and abundance that is absolutely cheering. The monks, it is true, 
have disappeared ; they formerly swarmed in the streets, and now not a single one 
is to be seen in all Lisbon. In them the city has lost a very striking class among 
its population ; yet it still retains much that impresses a stranger as being altogether 
di^imilar from that to which he has been accustomed. 

We have already mentioned the situation of Lisbon on the right or north bank 
of the Tagus, where it occupies, like ancient Rome, seven hills, the extremities of a 
mountain-range, which traverses the entire province of Estremadura, in which Lis- 
bon is situated. The ascent to the highest parts of the city is by a gradual slope, 
covered with irregular streets, though in some parts they are so steep as to render a 
descent, except on foot, extremely hazardous ; while in others they are broad and 
spacious. After the great earthquake in 1755, which laid the entire city in ruins, 
the marquis de Pombal, who was then prime minister, formed the design of rebuild- 
ing it on a regular plan. For this purpose, with the assistance of the ablest archi- 
tects he could collect, he divided the ground into a number of squares, at equal dis- 
tances from each other, subdividing the intervening space into streets, perfectly 
straight and parallel, and again dividing these by others at right angles. Only a 
very small part of this magnificent plan was carried into execution ; and we can 
conceive, from that portion, what would have been the grandeur and magnificence 
of a city, situated as Lisbon is, and commanding so many excellent points of view, 
had it been thus rebuilt ; but, as in 'London after the great fire, the opportunity was 
lost of erecting one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and it is to be hoped 
that such opportunities will not again occur. The Placa do Commercio (as seen 
from the river) is one of Porabal's squares, and was intended to form a kind of ex- 
change for colonial and foreign merchants. The houses are of an equal height, i. e. 
two stories, and occupy three sides of the square, the fourth being open to the river. 
These three sides are surrounded by a piazza, under which business is conducted 
among the various merchants who assemble there. The customhouse, war-offices, 
and natioad library, occupy the upper chambers. In the centre stands the beauti- 
ful equestrian statue of King Jose, the figure and horse, as Avell as the serpents be- 
neath his feet, are of ^bronze ; the horse's eyes are said to have been formed of two 
splendid brilliants, and that Marshal Junot, being unable to remove the statue, car- 
ried off these valuable ey^. The pedestal is formed of a single block of white 
marble, which is said to have required eighty yoke of oxen to draw it from the 
quarry. The front is ornamented with a bronze profile of the king, and the two 
sides are adorned with sculptures, representing the triumphs of Portugal in India 
and America. The whole is surrounded by an iron rail, supported at intervals by 
marble pillars, upon a platform ascended by about eight steps. The extreme ele- 
gance of this railing might serve as a model for imitation. The quays or caes of 
Lisbon are upon a noble plan where finished, but, like the other parts of Pombal's 
design, are neglected and discontinued by a government that had not capacity to 
understand its beauty nor its utility. The principal landing-place is the Placa do 
Commercio (perhaps better known as Black-Horse square), where the ascent from 
the river is formed by a magnificent flight of steps. 

The three principal streets, Rua d'Auro, Rua de Plata, and Rua de Panno, so 
called from the trades carried on respectively in each, lead in parallel lines from 
Black-Horse square to the Rocio, a large and beautiful square, in which reviews of 
the troops, national guard, &c., take place ; the central window of what once was 
the palace of the inquisition, being fitted up for the royal reception. A little beyond 
are the public gardens, which, under the reign of the present queen, have been con- 
siderably enlarged. The beauty of these, as indeed of most foreign gardens, con- 
sists in a great number of trees and hedges cut into curious and grotesque figures, 
among which the corkscrew figure seems to be the favorite. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 163 

The castle of St. George (the patron saint of Portugal) overloots the Rocio, and 
the ascent to it is extremely toilsome, the streets leading up being so steep as in 
many places to be little more than one vast flight of steps. When, however, the 
summit is gained, the magnificence of the prospect amply recompenses the labor. 
The view is uninterrupted for leagues around on every side. To the north the ho- 
rizon is bounded by the beautifully-picturesque mountains of Cintra ; following the 
line of coast, variegated with towns and villages and forts, we see the noble Tagus, 
guarded as it is by Belem and the Bouje, rolling its mighty stream into the bound- 
less ocean ; then from the plain green fields we see the houses deepen, street upon 
street follows, till all the city crowds upon the eye with its thousand domes, and 
convents and palaces: as we turn to the southward, the precipices of Almada, 
crowned with the fort and tower, the deep bays of Moita and Alcoxete, the distant 
mountains of the Arabida, the isolated and castle-capped Palmella, combine to form 
a picture indescribably grand, and, as far as I have seen, unrivalled. The descent 
from the castle by the principal street is much more gradual than the ascent ; and 
we here meet with the Limoeira or jail for prisoners of all classes, and a little lower 
down the cathedral. This church, though extremely plain, and nearly destitute 
of any kind of ornament, has a noble and ancient appearance. The front consists 
of two towers, the space between them being occupied by the arched doorway and 
a circular window. The chapel of St. Antonio de Se in its front adds considerably 
to the effect, as it relieves, by its lavish ornament, the plainness of the cathedral. 
There is a small fruit-market held here. Crowning the hill beyond the castle, 
stands the convent of St. Vicenti di Fora. The suburbs of this division of Lisbon 
are extremely beautiful, being crowded with the quintas or villas of the nobility and 
gentry. These villas are the more numerous, as, save a trip to Cintra in the sum- 
mer, few of the nobility leave the capital, even to visit their estates. Indeed, so 
small is the desire among the Portuguese to improve their property by agricultural 
means, that few have any idea of its condition, know its extent, or possess plans of 
even parts of their estates. Besides these mansions in the environs, many of the 
nobility possess splendid palaces in the heart of the city ; such, indeed, is the palace 
of the Marquis de Quintilla, a little above the Caes do Sodere. There is little in 
the external appearance of this edifice to attract attention ; but the interior is fitted 
up in the most splendid style, the furniture and ornaments being after the English 
fashion. The marquis, who derives his immense wealth from the tobacco monop- 
oly, is a great admirer of foreigners, and has several foreign servants. The 
chapel of the Quintilla palace is, internally, very beautifully fitted up ; there are a 
few good pictures in it, and the carvings around some of the shrines are very ele- 
gant. On the opposite side of the small square (Largo dasduas Igrejas) stands the 
Loretto; or Italian church ; in the centre of the square there is a beautiful fountain, 
with a colossal statue of Neptune in white marble ; higher up, and near the suburb 
of Val de Pereiro, stands the college of nobles, founded in 1761, which is one of 
the three universities of Portugal, the other two being those of Coimbra and Evora. 
As we have referred frequently to the earthquake of 1755, we shall now proceed 
to describe it. 

The great earthquake at Lisbon in 1755. — The appalling events, of which 
the following narrative presents a picture, are brought before the eyes of the reader 
with a force and simplicity which leave no doubt of the exact truth of the details. 
It is extracted, with a few omissions, from a book little known, and in most respects, 
of very small merit — " Davy's Letters on Literature." This portion of a work now 
forgotten, purports to be communicated to Mr. Davy by an English merchant, who 
resided in the ill-fated city : — 

" There never was a finer morning seen than the first of November ; the sun 
shone out in its full lustre ; the whole face of the sky was perfectly serene and 
clear, and not the least signal or warning of that approaching event, which has 
made this once flourishing, opulent, and populous city a scene of the utmost horror 
and desolation, except only such as served to alarm, but scarcely left a moment's 
time to fly from the general destruction. 

" It was on the morning of this fatal day, between the hours of nine and ten, that 
I sat down in my apartment, just finishing a letter, when the papers and table I was 
writing on, began to tremble with a gentle motion, which rather surprised me, as I 
could not perceive a breath of wind stirring. While I was reflecting with myself 
what this could be owing to, but without having the least apprehension of the real 



164 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

cause, the whole house began to shake from the very foundation ; which at first I 
imputed to the rattling of several coaches in the main street, which usually passed 
that way, at this time, from Belem to the palace ; but on hearkening more atten- 
tively, I was soon undeceived, as I found it was owing to a strange, frightful kind of 
noise under ground, resembling the hollow, distant rumbling of thunder. All this 
passed in less than a minute, and I must confess I now began to be alarmed, as it 
naturally occurred to me that this noise might possibly be the forerunner of an earth- 
quake, as one I remembered which had happened about six or seven years ago, in 
the island of Madeira, commenced in the same manner, though it did little or no 
damage. 

" Upon this I threw down my pen, and started upon my feet, remaining a moment 
in suspense, whether I should slay in the apartment or run into the street, as the 
danger in both places seemed equal ; and still flattering myself that this tremor 
might produce no other effects than such inconsiderable ones as had been felt at 
Madeira ; but in a moment I was roused from my dream, being instantly stunned 
with a most horrid crash, as if every edifice in the city had tumbled down at once. 
The house I was in shook with such violence, that the upper stories immediately 
fell, and though my apartment (which was the first floor) did not then share the 
same fate, yet everything was thrown out of its place in such a manner, that it was 
with no small difficulty I kept my feet, and expected nothing less than to be soon 
crashed to death, as the walls continued rocking to and fro in the most frightful man- 
ner, opening in several places, large stones falling down on every side from the 
cracks, and the ends of most of the rafters starting out from the roof. To add to 
this terrifying scene, the sky in a moment became so gloomy, that I could now dis- 
tinguish no particular object ; it was an Egyptian darkness indeed, such as might be 
felt ; owing, no doubt, to the prodigious clouds of dust and lime raised from so vio- 
lent a concussion, and, as some reported, to sulphureous exhalation, but this I can 
not affirm ; however, it is certain I found myself almost choked for nearly ten 
minutes. 

" As soon as the gloom began to disperse, and the violence of the shock seemed 
pretty much abated, the first object I perceived in the room was a woman sitting on 
the floor with an infant in her arms, all covered with dust, pale and trembling. I 
asked her how she got hither, but her consternation was so great that she could give 
me no account of her escape. I suppose that when the tremor first began, she ran 
out of her own house, and finding herself in such imminent danger from the falling 
stones, retired into the door of mine, which was almost contiguous to hers, for 
shelter, and when the shock increased, which filled the door with dust and rubbish, 
ran up stairs into my apartment. Be it as it might, this was no time for curiosity. 
I remember the poor creature asked me, in the utmost agony, if I did not think the 
world was at an end ; at the same time she complained of being choked, and begged, 
for God's sake, I would procure her a little drink. Upon this I went to a closet 
where I kept a large jar with water (which, you know, is sometimes a pretty scarce 
commodity in Lisbon), but. finding it broken m pieces, I lold her she must not now 
think of quenching her thirst, but saving her life, as the house was just falling on 
our heads, and if a second shock came, would certainly bury us both. 

"I shall always look upon it as a particular providence, that I happened on this 
occasion to be undressed, for had I dressed myself as I proposed when I got out of 
bed, in order to breakfast with a friend, I should, in all probabiliiy, have run into the 
street at the beginning of the shock, as the resi of the people m the house did, and 
consequently have had my brains dashed out, as every one of iliem had. However 
the imminent danger I was in did not hinder me from considering that niy presen 
dress, only a gown and slippers, would render my getting over the ruins almost im 
practicable; I had, therefore, siill presence of mind enough left to put on a pair of 
shoes and a coat, the first that came in my way, which was everything I saved, and 
in this dress I hurried down stairs, the woman with me, holding by my arm, and 
made directly to that end of the street which opens to the Tagus. Finding the pas- 
sage this way entirely blocked up with the fallen houses, to the height of their sec- 
ond stories, I turned back to the other end, which led into the main street (the com- 
mon thoroughhire to the palace), and having helped the woman over a vast heap of 
ruins, with no small hazard to my own life, just as we were going into this street, as 
there v/as one part I could not well climb over without the assistance of my hands, 
as well as feet, I desired her to let go her hold, which she did, remaining two or 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 165 

three feet behind me, at which instant there fell a vast stone from a tottering wall, 
and crushed boih her and the child in pieces. So dismal a spectacle at any other 
time would have affected me in the highest degree, but the dread I was in of sharing 
the same fate myself, and the many instances of the same kind which presented 
themselves all around, were too shocking to make me dwell a moment on this single 
object. 

" I had now a long, narrow street to pass, with the houses on each side four or five 
stories high, all very old, the greater part already thrown down, or continually fall- 
ing, and threatening the passengers with inevitable death at every step, numbers of 
whom lay killed before me, or Avhat I thought far more deplorable, so bruised and 
wounded that they could not stir to help themselves. For my own part, as destruc- 
tion appeared to me unavoidable, I only Avished that I might be made an end of at 
once, and not have my limbs broken, in which case I could expect nothing else but 
to be left upon the spot, lingering in misery, like these poor, unhappy wretches, 
without receiving the least succor from any person. 

"As self-preservation, however, is the first law of nature, these sad thoughts did 
not so far prevail as to make me totally despair. I proceeded on as fast as I conve- 
niently could, though with the utmost caution, and having at length got clear of this 
horrid passage, I found myself, safe and unhurt, in the large open space before St. 
Paul's church, which had been thrown down a few minutes before, and buried a 
great part of the congregation, that was generally pretty numerous, this being reck- 
oned one of the most populous parishes in Lisbon. Here I stood some time, consid- 
ering what I should do, and not thinking myself safe in this situation, I came to the 
resolution of climbing over the ruins of the west end of the church, in order to get 
to the river's side, that I might be removed as far as possible from the tottering 
houses, in case of a second shock. 

" This, with some difficulty, I accomplished, and here I found a prodigious con- 
course of people of both sexes, and of all ranks and conditions, among whom I ob- 
served some of the principal canons of the patriarchal church, in their purple robes 
and rochets, as these all go in the habit of bishops ; several priests, who had run 
from the altars in their sacerdotal vestments, in the midst of their celebrating mass ; 
ladies half dressed, and some without shoes ; all these, whom their mutual dangers 
had here assembled, as to a place of safety, were on their knees at prayers, with the 
terrors of death in their countenances, every one striking his breast, and crying out 
incessantly, ' Miserecordia meu Dios P 

" Amid this crowd I could not avoid taking notice of an old venerable priest, in a 
stole and surplice, who, I apprehend, had escaped from St. Paul's. He was continu- 
ally moving to and fro among the people, exhorting them to repentance, and endeav- 
oring to comfort them. He told them, with a flood of tears, that God was griev- 
ously provoked at their sins, but that if that they would call upon the blessed Vir- 
gin, she would intercede for them. Every one now flocked around him, earnestly 
begging his benediction, and happy did that man think himself, who could 
get near enough to touch the hem of his garment ; several I observed had little 
wooden crucifixes and images of saints in their hands, which they offered me 
to kiss, and one poor Irishman, I remember, held out a St. Antonio to me for this 
purpose, and when I gently put his arm aside, as giving him to understand that I 
desired to be excused this piece of devotion, he asked me, with some indignation, 
whether I thought there was a God. I verily believe many of the poor bigoted crea- 
tures who saved these useless pieces of wood, left their children to perish. How- 
ever, you must not imagine that I have now the least inclination to mock at their 
superstitions. I sincerely pity them, and must own, that a more affecting spectacle 
was never seen. Their tears, their bitter sighs and lamentations, would have 
touched the most flinty heart. I knelt down among them, and prayed as fervently 
as the rest, though to a more proper object — the only Being who could hear my 
prayers, to afford me any succor. 

" In the midst of our devotions the second great shock came on, little less violent 
than the first, and completed the ruin of those buildings which had been already 
much shattered. The consternation now became so universal, that the shrieks and 
cries oi Miserecordia could be distinctly heard from the top of St. Catherine's hill, 
at a considerable distance off, whither a vast number of people had likewise re- 
treated ; at the same time we tould hear the fall of the parish church there, whereby 
many persons were killed on the spot, and others mortally wounded. You may 



16ff SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

judge of the force of this shock, when I inform you it was so violent that I could 
scarce keep on my knees, but it was attended with some circumstances still more 
dreadful than the former. On a sudden I heard a general outcry, ' The sea is coming 
in, we shall be all lost.' Upon this, turning my eyes toward the river, which in that 
place is nearly four miles broad, I could perceive it heaving and swelling in a most 
unaccountable manner, as no wind was stirring. In an instant there appeared, at 
some small distance, a large body of water, rising as it were like a mountain. It 
came on foaming and roaring, and rushed toward the shore with such impetuosity, 
that we all immediately ran for our lives as fast as possible ; many were actually 
swept away, and the rest above their waist in water at a good distance from the 
banks. For my own part, I had the narrowest escape, and should certainly have 
been lost, had I not grasped a large beam that lay on the ground, till the water re- 
turned to its channel, which it did almost at the same instant, with equal rapidity. 
As there now appeared at least as much danger from the sea as the land, and I scarce 
knew whither to retire for shelter, I took a sudden resolution of returning back, with 
my clothes all dropping, to the area of St. Paul's. Here I stood some time, and 
observed the ships tumbling and tossing about as in a violent storm ; some had broken 
their cables and were carried to the other side of the Tagus ; others were whirled 
round with incredible swiftness ; several large boats were turned keel upward ; and 
all this without any wind, which seemed the more astonishing. It was at the time of 
which I am now speaking, that the fine new quay, built entirely of rough marble, at 
an immense expense, was entirely swallowed up, with all the people on it, who had 
fled thither for safety, and had reason to think themselves out of danger in such a 
place : at the same time a great number of boats and small vessels, anchored near 
it (all likewise full of people, who had retired thiiher for the same purpose), were all 
swallowed up, as in a whirlpool, and never more appeared. 

" This last dreadful incident I did not see with my own eyes, as it passed three or 
four stones' throws from the spot where I then was, but I had the account as here 
given from several masters of ships, who were anchored within two or three hundred 
yards of the quay, and saw the whole catastrophe. One of them in particular in- 
formed me, that when the second shock came on, he could perceive the whole city 
waving backward and forward, like the sea when the wind first begins to rise ; that 
the agitation of the earth was so great even under the river, that it threw up his 
large anchor from the mooring, which swam, as he termed it, on the surface of the 
water ; that immediately upon this extraordinary concussion, the river rose at once 
near twenty feet, and in a moment subsided ; at which instant he saw the quay, with 
the whole concourse of people upon it, sink down, and at the same time every one 
of the boats and vessels that were near it was drawn into the cavity, which he sup- 
poses instantly closed upon them, inasmuch as not the least sign of a wreck was ever 
seen afterward. This account you may give full credit to, for as to the loss of the 
vessels, it is confirmed by everybody ; and with regard to the quay, I went a 
few days after, to convince myself of the truth, and could not find even the ruins 
of a place, where I had taken so many agreeable walks, as this was the common 
rendezvous of the factory in the cool of the evening. I found it all deep water, and 
in some parts scarcely to be fathomed. 

" This is the only place I could learn which was swallowed up in or about Lisbon, 
though I saw many large cracks and fissures in difierent parts ; and one odd phe- 
nomenon I must not omit, which was communicated to me by a friend who has a 
house and wine-cellars on the other side of the river, viz., that the dwelling-house being 
first terribly shaken, which made all the family run out, there presently fell down a 
vast high rock near it ; that upon this the river rose and subsided in the manner 
already mentioned, and immediately a great number of small fissures appeared in 
several contiguous pieces of ground, whence there spouted out, like a jet d^eau, a 
large quantity of fine white sand to a prodigious height. It is not to be doubted the 
bowels of the earth must have been excessively agitated to cause these surprising 
effects, but whether the shocks were owing to any sudden explosion of various 
minerals mixing together, or to air pent up, and struggling for vent, or to a col- 
lection of subterraneous waters forcing a passage, God only knows. As to the fiery 
eruptions then talked of, I believe they are without foundation, though it is certain, 
I heard several complaining of strong sulphureous smells, a dizziness in their heads, 
a sickness in their stomachs, and difficulty of respiration, not that I felt any such 
symptoms myself. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 1G7 




4 



168 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN ' 

" I had not been long in the area of St. Paul's, when I felt the third shock, which 
though somewhat less violent than the two former, the sea rushed in again, and 
retired with the same rapidity, and I remained up to my knees in water, though I 
had gotten upon a small eminence at some distance from the river, with the ruins 
of several intervening houses to break its force. At this time I took notice the 
waters retired so impetuously, that some vessels were left quite dry, which rode in 
seven fathoms water : the river thus continued alternately rushing on and retiring 
several times together, in such sort, that it was justly dreaded Lisbon would now 
meet the same fate which a few years ago had befallen the city of Lima ;* and no 
doubt had this place laid open to the sea, and the force of the waves not been some- 
%vhat broken by the winding of the bay, the lower parts of it at least would have 
been totally destroyed. 

" The master of a vessel, which arrived here just after the 1st of November, assur- 
ed me, that he felt the shock above forty leagues at sea so sensibly, that he really 
concluded he had struck upon a rock, till he threw out the lead, and could find no 
bottom, nor could be possibly guess at the cause, till the melancholy sight of tliis 
desolate city left him no room to doubt of it. The first two shocks, in fine, were so 
violent, that several pilots were of opinion, the situation of the bar, at the mouth ol 
the Tagus, was changed. Certain it is, that one vessel, attempting to pass through 
the usual channel, foundered, and another struck on the sands, and was at first given 
over for lost, but at length got through. There was another shock after this, which 
pretty much, affected the river, but I think not so violently as the preceding, though 
several persons assured me, that as they were riding on horseback in the great road 
leading to Belem, one side of which lies open to the river, the waves rushed in with 
so much rapidity that they were obliged to gallop as fast as possible to the upper 
grounds, for fear of being carried away. 

" I was now in such a situation that I knew not which way to turn myself; if I re- 
mained there, I was in danger from the sea ; if I retired further from the shore, the 
houses threatened certain destruction, and, at last, I resolved to go to the Mint, which 
being a low and very strong building, had received no considerable damage, except in 
some of the apartments toward the river. The party of soldiers, which is every 
day set there on guard, had all deserted the place, and the only person that remained 
was the commanding officer, a nobleman's son, of about seventeen or eighteen years 
of age, whom I found standing at the gate. As there was still a continued tremor 
of the earth, and the place where we now stood (being within twenty or thirty feet 
of the opposite houses, which were all tottering) appeared too dangerous, the court- 
yard likewise being full of water, we both retired inward to a hillock of stones and 
rubbish : here I entered into conversation with him, and having expressed my admi- 
ration that one so young should have the courage to keep his post, when every one 
of his soldiers had deserted theirs, the answer he made was, though he were sure 
the earth would open and swallow him up, he scorned to think of flying from his 
post. Li short, it was owing to the magnanimity of this young man that the Mint, 
which at this time had upward of two millions of money in it, was not robbed ; and 
indeed I do him no more than justice, in saying, that I never saw any one behave 
with equal serenity and composure, on occasions much less dreadful than the present. 
I believe I might remain in conversation with him near five hours ; and though I 
was now grown faint from the constant fatigue I had undergone, and having not 
yet broken my fast, yet this had not so much effect upon me as the anxiety I was 
under for a particular friend, with whom I was to have dined that day, and who 
lodging at the top of a very high house in the heart of the city, and being a stranger 
to the language, could not but be in the utmost danger : my concern, therefore, for 
his preservation, made me determine, at all events, to go and see what was become 
of him, upon which I took my leave of the officer. 

"As I thought it would be the height of rashness to venture back through the 
same narrow street I had 50 providentially escaped from, I judged it safest to return 
over the ruins of St. Paul's to the river-side, as the water now seemed little agitated. 
Hence I proceeded, with some hazard, to the large space before the Irish convent 
of Corpo Santo, which had been thrown down, and buried a great number of people 
who were hearing mass, besides some of the friars ; the rest of the community were 
standing in the area, looking, with dejected countenances, toward the ruins. From 
this place I took my way to the back street leading to the palace, having the ship- 

* This happened in 1746. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 



169 




170 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

yard on one side, but found the further passage, opening into the principal street, 
stopped up by the ruins of the opera-house, one of the soHdest and most magnificent 
buildings of the kind in Europe, and just finished at a prodigious expense ; a vast 
heap of stones, each of several tons weight, had entirely blocked up the front of Mr. 
Bristow's house, which was opposite to it, and Mr. Ward, his partner, told me the 
next day, that he was just that instant going out at the door, and had actually set 
one foot over the threshold, when the west end of the opera-house fell down, and 
had he not in a moment started back, he should have been crushed into a thousand 
pieces. 

"From here I turned back, and attempted getting by the other way into the great 
square of the palace, twice as large as Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, one side of which had 
been taken up by the noble quay 1 spoke of, now no more ; but this passage was 
likewise obstructed by the stories fallen from the great arched gateway. I could not 
help taking particular notice, that all the apartments wherein the royal family used 
to reside, were thrown down, and themselves, without some extraordinary miracle, 
must unavoidable have perished, had they been there at the time of the shock. 
Finding this passage impracticable, I turned to the other arched-way which led to 
the new square of the palace, not the eighth part so spacious as the other, one side 
of which was taken up by the Patriarchal church, which also served for the Chapel 
Royal, and the other by a most magnificent building of modern architecture, prob- 
ably indeed by far the most so, not yet completely finished ; as to the former, the 
roof and part of the front walls were thrown down, and the latter, notwithstanding 
their solidity, had been so shaken, that several large stones fell from the top, and 
every part seemed disjointed. The square was full of coaches, chariots, chaises, 
horses, and mules, deserted by their drivers and attendants, as well as their owners. 
• " The nobility, gentry, and clergy, who were assisting at divine service when the 
earthquake began, fled away with the utmost precipitation, every one where his fears 
carried him, leaving the splendid apparatus of the numerous altars to the mercy of 
the first comer ; but this did not so much affect ine, as the distress of the poor ani- 
mals, who seemed sensible of their hard fate ; some few were killed, others 
wounded, but the greater part, which had received no hurt, were left there to starve. 

•' From this square, the way led to my friend's lodgings through a long, steep, and 
narrow street ; the new scenes of horror I met with here exceed all description ; 
nothing could be heard but signs and groans. I did not meet with a soul in the 
passage who was not bewailing the death of his dearest friends, or the loss of all his 
substance ; I could hardly take a step, without treading on the dead, or the 
dying. In some places lay coaches, with their masters, horses, and riders, almost 
crushed in pieces ; here mothers, with infants in their arms ; there ladies, richly 
dressed, priests, friars, gentlemen, mechanics, either in the same condition, or just 
expiring ; some had their backs or thighs broken, others, vast stones on their breasts ; 
some lay almost buried in the rubbish, and crying out in vain to the passengers for 
succor, were left to perish with the rest. 

*' At length I arrived at the spot opposite to the house where my friend, for whom 
I was so anxious, resided ; and finding this, as well as the contiguous buildings, 
thrown down (which made me give him over for lost), I now thought of nothing 
else but saving my own life in the best manner I could, and in less than an hour got 
to a public-house, kept by one Morley, near the English burying-ground, about half 
a mile from the city, where I still remain, with a great number of my countrymen, 
as well as Portuguese, in the same wretched circumstances, having almost ever since 
lain on the ground, and never once within doors, with scarcely any covering to de- 
fend me from the inclemency of the night air, which, at this time, is exceedingly 
sharp and piercing. 

" Perhaps you may think the present doleful subject here concluded ; but alas ! the 
horrors of the first of November are sufficient to fill a volume. As soon as it grew 
dark, another scene presented itself, little less shocking than those already de- 
scribed — the whole city appeared in a blaze, which was so bright that I could easily 
see to read by it. It may be said without exaggeration, it was on fire at least in a 
hundred diff'erent places at once, and thus continued burning for six days together, 
without intermission, or the least attempt being made to stop its progress. 

" It went on consuming everything the earthquake had spared, and the people 
were so dejected and terrified, that few or none had courage to venture down to save 
any part of their substance ; every one had his eyes turned toward the flames, and 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 171 

stood looking on with silent grief, which was only interrupted by the cries and 
shrieks of women and children calling on the saints and angels for succor, whenever 
Uie earth began to tremble, which was so often this night, and indeed I may say, 
ever since, that the tremors, more or less, did not cease for a quarter of an hour 
together. I could never learn that this terrible fire was owing to any subterranean 
eruption, as some reported, but to three causes, which, all concurring at the same 
time, will naturally account for the prodigious havoc it made. The first of Novem- 
ber being All-Saints day, a high festival among the Portuguese, every altar in every 
church and chapel (some of which have more than tweniy) was illuminated with a 
number of wax tapers and lamps, as customary ; these setting fire to the curtains 
and timber-work that fell with the shock, the conflagration soon spread to the neigh- 
boring houses, and being there joined with the fires in the kitchen chimneys, in- 
creased to such a degree, that it might easily have destroyed the whole city, though 
no other cause had concurred, especially as it met with no interruption. 

" But what would appear incredible to you, were the fact less public and notorious, 
is, that a hardened gang of villains, who had been confined, and got out of prison 
when the wall fell, at the first shock, were busily employed in setting fire to those 
buildings which stood some chance of escaping the general destruction. I can not 
conceive what could have induced them to this hellish work, except to add to the 
horror and confusion, that they might, by this means, have the better opportunity of 
plundering with security. But there Avas no necessity for taking this trouble, as 
they might certainly have done their business without it, since the whole city was 
so deserted before night, that I believe not a soul remained in it, except those exe- 
crable villains, and others of the same stamp. It is possible some among them 
might have had other motives beside robbing, as one in particular being apprehended 
(they say he was a Moor, condemned to the galleys), confessed at the gallows that 
he had set fire to the king's palace, with his own hand ; at the same time glorying 
in the action, and declaring with his last breath, that he hoped to have burnt all the 
royal family. It is likewise generally believed that Mr. Bristow's house, which was 
an exceedingly strong edifice, built on vast stone arches, and had stood the shocks 
without any great damage, further than what I have mentioned, was consumed in 
the same manner. The fire, in short, by some means or other, may be said to have 
destroyed the whole city, at least everything that was grand or valuable in it. 

" "With regard to the buildings, it was observed that the most solid in general fell 
the first. Every parish-church, convent, nunnery, palace, and public edifice, with an 
infinite number of private houses, was either thrown down or so miserably shattered, 
that it was rendered dangerous to pass by them. 

" The whole number of persons that perished, including those who were burnt, or 
afterward crushed to death while digging in the ruins, is supposed, on the lowest 
calculation, to amount to more than sixty thousand ; and though the damage, in 
other respects, can not be computed, yet you may form some idea of it, when I as- 
sure you that this extensive and opulent city is now nothing but a vast heap of ruins ; 
that the rich and poor are at present upon a level ; some thousands of families 
which but the day before had been easy in their circumstances, being now scattered 
about in the fields, wanting every convenience of life, and finding none able to re- 
lieve them. 

" A few days after the first consternation was over, I ventured down into the city 
by the safest ways I could pick out, to see if there was a possibility of getting any- 
thing out of my lodgings, but the ruins were now so augmented by the late fire, that 
I was so far from being able to distinguish the individual spot where the house 
stood, that I could not even distinguish the street amid such mountains of stones and 
rubbish, which rose on every side. Some days after, I ventured down again with 
several porters, who, having long plied in these parts of the town, were well ac- 
quainted with the situation of particular houses ; by their assistance I at last discov» 
ered the spot, but was soon convinced that to dig for anything here, besides the dan- 
ger of such an attempt, would never answer the expense, and what further induced 
me to lay aside all thoughts of the matter, was the sight of the ruins still smoking, 
whence I knew, for certain, that those things I set the greatest value on, must have 
been irrecoverably lost in the fire. 

" On both the times when I attempted to make this fruitless search, especially the 
first, there came such an intolerable stench from the dead bodies, that I was ready 
to faint away, and though it did not seem so great this last time, yet it had like to 



172 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

have been more fatal to me, as I contracted a fever by it, but_ of which, God he 
praised, I soon got the better. However, this made me so cautious for the future, 
that I avoided passing near certain places, where the stench was so excessive, th»t 
people began to dread an infection. A gentleman told me, that going into the town 
a few days after the earthquake, he saw several bodies lying in the streets, sotne 
horribly mangled, as he supposed, by the dogs ; others half burnt.; some quite 
roasted ; and that in certain places, particularly near the doors of churches, they lay 
in vast heaps, piled one upon another. You may guess at the prodigious havoc 
which must have been made, by the single instance I am going to mention : There 
was a high arched passage, like one of our old city gates, fronting the west door of 
the ancient cathedral; on the left hand was the famous church of St. Antonio, and 
on the right some private houses, several stories high. The whole area, surrounded 
by all these buildings, did not much exceed one of our small courts in London. At 
the first shock, numbers of people who were then passing under tJie arch, fled into 
the middle of this area for shelter ; those in the two churches, as many as could 
possibly get out, did the same. At this instant, the arched gateway, with the fronts 
of the two churches and contiguous buildings, all inclining toward one another with 
the sudden violence of the shock, fell down, and buried every soul, as they were 
standing here crowded together." 



CHAPTER VII.— PORTUGAL. 

Elvas. — The city of Elvas stands upon a part of the Zoledo range of mountams, 
which enters Portugal a little above the city of Badajos, and occupies the centre of 
the large and fertile province of Alemtejo (beyond the Tagus), of which Elvas is 
the second city of importance. In the peninsula each province has its separate gov- 
ernment and local institutions, and is defended by its own troops, who are not 
removable in ordinary times to the other provinces of the kingdom. The governor 
or viceroy is invested with large powers, but is of course responsible to the central 
administration at Lisbon. Each province has, therefore, a capital, where the busi- 
ness of the little kingdom is carried on. The nominal capital of Alemtejo is the 
city of Evora ; but Estremos has been latterly adopted, from its greater security on 
account of the protection afforded by Elvas, from which it is distant about eighteen 
miles. The works of Elvas are so strong as to require a large army and a regular 
siege before any impression could be made ; and thus opportunity would be afforded 
to collect the force of the province to repel an invader. Though ranked the second 
city of the Alemtejo, it is decidedly the best fortified and the strongest, the defensive 
works being a chef d^ozuvre of the conde La Lippe Schomberg, and a perfect model 
of their kind. Fort La Lippe, situated on a steep hill at the back of the city, is im- 
pregnable except to famine ; and Fort St. Lucia in the front, connected with the 
redoubts on either side, is of sufficient importance to cause much trouble to a be- 
sieging force. There are three gates to the city: the Porta d'Esquina on the north, 
the Porta d'Oliven^a in the centre, and the Porta de San Vicente on the south, all 
strongly fortified .with ravelins, cavaliers, and counter-guards, forming a curve bent 
outward. The only gate by which strangers are allowed to enter is the Olivenca, 
because they are thus forced to pass one half of the works, and are exposed to the 
observation of a long chain of sentinels. From this gate several long and narrow 
streets diverge into different parts of the city ; and though from the main street, or 
Rua de Cadea, is a perfectly straight line to the gate, the number of openings at 
this point of entrance to the town, are as perplexing as the streets at the Seven Di- 
als in London, which they somewhat resemble, requiring a person to be well 
acquainted with them before he can readily hit upon the right one. The Rua de 
Cadea is a fine antique-looking street, and the remains of part of the Moorish houses 
and towers give it an air of solemn grandeur and dignity which it would not other- 
wise possess. The cadea or prison stands at one end of this street, and on the op- 
posite side is the hospital for the townspeople ; an excellent establishment, conducted 
with extreme regularity, and with almost military discipline among the attendants. 
The sick are placed in wards, although separate apartments are prepared for those 
suffering from infectious diseases. The hospitals of Portugal are decidedly the best- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 



173 




174 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

regulated establishments in the country. The street of the cadea forms the boun- 
dary of the ancient Moorish town ; remains of the old walls may be traced from 
end to end ; and several fine towers raise their embattled walls above the houses. 
The ancient interior gateways still exist, and through one of these we enter the 
praca, or great square (as represented in our engraving, p. 173). To a casual observer 
the pra^a of Elvas would present no object worthy of attention, except, perhaps, the 
singularly-formed tower to the cathedral or see, which stands at the upper end ; but 
on closer inspection, the peculiar forms and construction of the various houses, ex- 
hibiting specimens of the domestic architecture of several succeeding ages, from 
the days of Moorish beauty and elegance to modern times, can not fail to excite 
feelings of interest in a mind to which the varying manners and changing habits of 
a people are objects of interesting inquiry. The two large houses on either hand 
of the gateway, for the gate itself has long ceased to be, are decidedly Moorish, 
and there is an elegance about the long open arched terrace in front not to be met 
with in the houses of a later construction. Several of the grotesque carvings are 
executed with a richness and delicacy unknown to modern Portuguese art, and 
though the dwelling-houses of the day are generally erected on the ancient plan as 
far as possible, yet there is a want of proportion and finish in some of their best 
buildings of this class, which leaves a disagreeable impression on the mind. The 
rooms are large, lofty, and paved with bricks, arranged in various figures, and the 
windows, which are unglazed, admit but a shadowy light from the latticed blinds, 
which are almost impervious to the rays of the sun. The Moorish houses are better 
arranged than the Portuguese ones, and have a more cheerful appearance, and the 
fiat roofs and various terraces with their display of flowers and shrubs have quite an 
enchanting effect. Of course I do not speak of the houses of the nobility, in some 
of which great taste is displayed, not only in the architectural beauties and domestic 
comforts, but also in the grounds. The fine climate allows them to adorn their 
houses, both outside and inside, with the choicest productions of the flower-garden, 
whose beauties serve to screen many defects, at least according to our notions of 
perfection. Many of the houses have piazzas in front, which, though increasing 
the size of the rooms above, add nothing to their external beauty. Some houses of 
this description may be seen in our engraving. The only use I could ever perceive 
for these piazzas was for the lazy market-people to lounge beneath, and obstruct the 
passage with their goods. A little beyond this piazza is one of those remarkable 
pillars so prevalent throughout the peninsula. It consists of a single block of mar- 
ble beautifully carved. These pillars stood and still stand before the house of the 
chief magistrate, and once served as a kind of standing gallows, the four hooks with 
rings being to hang the criminals upon, while the spikes above were ready to re- 
ceive the heads of the decapitated traitors. The pedestal stands upon a base of five 
or six steps, either circular or octagonal. Adjoining to this pillar is the main 
guardhouse, opposite to which is the governor's house, formerly the bishop's palace. 
It consists of a long range of buildings, occupying nearly half the square, and com- 
municating with the cathedral. 

The cathedral is a mixture of Arabesque and Gothic, in which the Gothic rather 
preponderates. The exterior possesses not the slightest pretensions, either to beauty 
or symmetry, except the singular tower, which forms the front. The interior, how- 
ever, compensates for the want of external adornment, and consists of a nave and 
two aisles, without a choir ; the roof, which is arched, is supported by sixteen col- 
umns, and in the aisles, each intercolumniation is occupied by the chapel of some 
saint. The decorations and ornaments in some of these chapels are extremely ele- 
gant, the walls and ceilings being covered with a profusion of gilded carved work, 
but the pictures are execrable. It is curious to mark the superstitions of the people. 
Some of these chapels are literally crowded with waxen eflSgies of every part of 
the human body, as well as with pictures of sick persons, to whom the saint is ap- 
pearing, of course in a cloud of yellow, and red, and blue. These effigies are oflTer- 
ings of gratitude to the saint for having effected cures where medical skill was unable 
even to give relief The grand altar which faces the entrance is supported by 
Corinthian pillars of gray marble, which are surmounted by a canopy of crimson 
and gold silk, beneath which is a large picture of the birth of Christ ; the altar itself 
is covered with crimson and gold silk of great value, and crowded with silver can- ' 
dlesticks. On great festivals, and also on some other occasions, silver busts of six 
of the apostles and the first six bishops of Rome, as large as life, are carried in the 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 



175 




176 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

procession, which adds greatly to the splendor, illuminated as they are by a hundred 
wax candles, and surrounded by the priesthood in their rich dresses. The tower 
will need no description here. It is accurately represented in the engraving. Be- 
hind the cathedral is a convent of nuns, dedicated to St. Domingo. There is a little 
church not far from the cathedral, the walls of which are surrounded with niches, 
and in these stand the dried and withered remains of the sisters of Santa Clara, the 
air in this church, or some peculiarity in the situation, having arrested the progress 
of decay, and done the office of the embalmer. Placed upright, and supported by 
an iron ring, they have stood for ages. From some the clothes have rotted off, yet 
still the body remains entire, while others are in their every-day attire, which is un- 
injured by decay. 

As there is no room within the town for public gardens, the covert way from the 
Porta d'Esquina to the Olivenca gate is planted with trees, and each "place des 
armes" is occupied by a fountain, and tastefully laid out in beds of flowers. At the 
entrance, near the aqueduct, the trees and shrubs are cut into the most grotesque 
forms, four knights on horseback being ready to dispute the entrance. The contrast 
between the green figures and the white faces which are fixed to the branches in 
the proper place, has rather a startling effect, as the figures are Avell preserved, 
and of a gigantic size. The walk round the ramparts is also extremely fine, afford- 
ing an uninterrupted view of the country for leagues around. 

The Rua de las Cadeas, or street of the chains, so named from the prison which 
stands in the centre, is situated in the middle of the town of Elvas; the buildings 
which range along on either side being irregular, and partaking much of that Moor- 
ish character so observable in the architecture of the peninsula. Though the 
generality of the Portuguese houses are clumsy and disproportioned, there is an air 
of Gothic solidity, and occasionally a profusion of ornament, which render them 
picturesque when taken in the mass. The Moorish arched fronts, the latticed 
windows, the veranda, and the beautiful luxuriance of the flowers, arranged in fanciful 
pots along the house-tops — alHend their aid to give a peculiar and pleasing effect to 
the narrow and ill-paved streets; and an additional chirm is, the universal custom 
among the fair sex of standing for hours in the balconies Avhile the sun declines, and 
is succeeded by the refreshing coolness of the evening breeze. It is along this street 
that the gorgeous processions of the church proceed, either to or from the cathedral, 
whose singular tower forms so attractuig an object in the praca, or square. It is 
here also that the market is daily held, but the principal day, when it is enriched by 
all the productions of the adjacent country, is Monday. Then may be seen the 
spruce farmer, dressed in his picturesque costume ; the shepherd in his jacket of 
sheepskins, with his blanket thrown carelessly over his shoulder ; the country lass, 
with her clean muslin kerchief on her head, and best green " capa," trimmed with 
velvet of the same color; the muleteer; and, in short, specimens of every class, from 
the rich fidalgo down to the poor mendicant, all equally busied in their various oc- 
cupations of buying, selling, or exchanging. 

Having given a brief notice of the city of Elvas, Ave shall now proceed to offer a 
few remarks on the two forts, the Moorish aqueduct, and the surrounding country. 
Perhaps few situations could have been selected better adapted fur a series of 
fortifications than that of Elvas. Standing on three detached hills, gradually rising 
upward, and divided from each other by a hollow, they offer a means of separate 
defence of the strongest nature. Santa Lucia is the first of the series; it stands on a 
small hill which commands the country all around, and is flanked by tAvo strong 
redoubts ; the figure being square, with bastions and ravelins ; and the entrance is by 
one gate facing the city. The centre is occupied by a strong square tower, or keep, 
which is entered half Avay up by a draAvbridge from the ramparts. As this tower is 
of solid masonry, and loopholed in every direction, the possession of the ramparts is 
but a secondary consideration, as the defence of the toAvcr may cause more loss to 
the assailants than the entire operations necessary to reduce the outworks to a heap 
of rubbish. On the top of the tower is the governor's house, Avhich is entered by a 
covered way from the drawbridge, and is otherwise totally unconnected with the 
body of the building, so that its destruction would not Aveaken the means of defence. 
Besides the covert-way leading to the city, there is a mine or tunnel from the centre 
of the tower, by which provisions, ammunition, or reinforcements, may be conveyed, 
should the regular communication be cut off. There is also a deep well, and a reser- 
voir sufficient to supply the garrison with water for twelve months. The roof of the 



CONTINENTAL* EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 177 

tower is bomb-proof, and mounts twelve guns, or more when necessary. The garri- 
son necessary to defend this fort, independent of the redoubts, is one "thousand men. 
The city occupies the second hill, and contains eleven bastions in its circuit, with 
ravelins, counter-guards, and cavaliers ; and the southern gate is further protected by 
a crown-work of considerable strength. The works of the castle are of the meet 
powerful description ; five batteries rising one above another, and commanding the 
country in every direction. The bastion de Principe mounts ten guns ; and the bastioa 
de Concacao, at the opposite angle, thirteen, besides a number along the intermediate 
curtains. Elvas, independent of her outworks, mounts one hundred and fifteen guns, 
and these within the short compass of less than two miles. 

Behind the town and castle of Elvas runs a deep valley, through the bottom of 
which a little stream, or rivetta, as it is called by the inhabitants, winds its mur- 
muring way ; here and there a small cottage may be seen between the mighty forts ; 
while as we asceiid the hill, the olive grove overshadows the road, and the fountain 
of clear water, with its curious architecture, invites the passenger to repose in the 
coolness of the umbrageous trees, to enjoy the refreshing draught. In this solitude 
peace seems to dwell : the view of the fort is concealed by the surrounding trees, and 
indeed after the grove is passed, we have no idea of being in the immediate neigh- 
borhood of the strongest fort of its kind in Europe, and we stand in admiration gazing 
on the fairy scene presented to our view. At our feet lies the city with all her varied 
architecture and busy inhabitants, diminished by distance to pigmies, moving about 
ia the pursuit of their varied occupations ; beyond is Fort Santa Lucia, and the 
magnificent aqueduct, stretching at intervals along an extent of fifteen miles ; the 
beautiful valley of AlmoCeira, and the barren bleak hills beyond ; from which issues 
like a silver thread the " dark Guadiana," broadening as it approaches toward the 
city of Badajoz, and occasionally concealed from view, now by the little town of 
Jerumania, now by the high banks, and next reflecting the star-like Oliveupa, 
diminished by distance to a bright speck, as the sunbeam catches its whitewashed 
walls and enormous tower ; now again silently weeping past the fisher's cabin, and 
then struggling and foafhing beneath the broad arches of the bridge of Ba'dajoz, till 
it becomes lost again behind St. Chrisiobal, the proud towers of Badajoz, the distant 
heights of Albuera ; and then again the town of Campo-Mayor, with the intervening 
hills covered with olives and quiatas, and lemon and orange trees, form a prospect 
of unrivalled grandeur, and cause the lover of the beautiful works of nature and art 
to pause in silent wonder on the scene beneath him : after the first burst of admiration 
is over, the desire to ascend to the top of the hill to enjoy if possible a more exten- 
sive view from a greater height, or to rest and gaze at leisure, becomes insurmounta- 
ble ; and notwithstanding the excessive steepness of the ascent, we toil forward till 
we are surprised by the challenge of the sentinel, and find that unwittingly we have 
stumbled over Fort LaLippe, which in our admiration we had scarcely remembered. 
The glacis of this fort rise so gradually from the steep conical hill from which they 
spring as to be scarcely perceptible, except from their extreme steepness; and so 
well screened from view are the works as not to be perceived from the glacis, while 
at the same time fifty guns could be pointed on the spot where we stand. It is only 
on entering this fort that we become aware of its strength, for though of the same 
figure as Santa Lucia, a fortified square, there is so much more of solidity and 
strength, and so many obstructions to surmount, that we wonder how so simple a 
figure could be rendered so strong. At the back there is a horn-work, which takes 
in the entire summit. The description of Santa Lucia may be equally applied to 
this, only that every part is stronger, the ditches are traversed in every direction by 
loopholes and casemates, while the ramparts are crowded with artillery. There is 
a reservoir constantly supplied with water sufficient for the garrison of two thousand 
men for two years, and stores of corn and provisions for that time are also laid up. 
There is a mill within the walls for grinding corn, and an oven for baking sufficient 
bread, so that as there are no means for taking the fort but by treachery, surprise, 
or famine, the siege of La Lippe must be a work of patience, not to mention the 
loss ; for as the besieged will be perfectly safe within their walls, so will the be- 
siegers be completely exposed to the fire of the garrison : though surrounded on 
three sides by hills, they are all too low and too well commanded by the fort to ad- 
mit of any annoyance from them. There is a curious circumstance in natural history 
connected with Fort LaLippe: a well, which is of amazing depth, yields water 

12 



178 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



which mixes readily with oil, and produces a thick fluid resembling milk, hut the 
flavor of which is disagreeable. 

The Moorish aqueduct, a representation of which is given on the opposite page, con- 
veys the water of an excellent spring, for the distance of fifteen miles, to the city, 
where an immense reservoir is kept constantly filled, and contains sufficient for the 
inhabitants for six months: the part which we have selected for our sketch is tliat 
which crosses the valley of the Campo de Feira (or Field of the Fair), being so named 
from the annual fair which is heM here. It might be thought that a conduit for 
water should be carried on in one undeviating line ; but the aqueduct of Elvas forms 
an irregular zigzag, somewhat resembling the representations of a flash of lightning : 
the great height and narrowness of the hill require this formation to give greater 
strength, as every angle is a powerful supporter. Unlike the celebrated aqueduct 
over the valley of Alcantara, at Lisbon, whose vast arches rise to the height of three 
hundred and thirty -two feet, this consists of four stories, or tiers of arches, the lower 
ones being nearly one hundred feet, and the upper ones about forty feet in height ; 
giving a total, allowing for the thickness of the arch, of about two hundred and 
fifty feet in height. The valley which this stupendous pile crosses is about one mile 
and a half in breadth, and the vastness of the Avork may be conceived, when we 
consider the immense quantity of masonry required to erect a series of arches of this 
description, even were it no more than to cross this valley, and the great length of 
the w^ork, crossing many hollows and stretching over hill and vale to the fountain- 
head. It is supported at intervals by large buttresses, some triangular, some, square, 
and some round, with stories decreasing in size as they approach the top. That the 
principles of hydraulics were known to the builders of this aqueduct is evident, for 
the ancient fountains still existing in all parts of the city attest the fact: we must 
suppose, therefore, that the nature of the ground was such as to prevent the possi- 
bility of laying a water-course : the earth in this part of the country, as at Lisbon, 
scarcely covers the rock, which is a species of coarse marble, extremely hard ; in 
many places long tunnels would have been necessary ; the solifl rock must have been 
cut through, and quantities of masonry required to connect parts separated by fissures 
and ravines ; so that upon consideration, the pile under our notice, gigantic as it is, 
was probably the cheapest and least laborious method of conveying water to the 
city : but be that as it may, it will never cease to be an object of interest and admi- 
ration boih to the antiquary and the passing traveller, as affording a specimen of the 
greatness of the singular people by whom ir was erected. 

Braga is a city in Portugal, and the capital of Entre Duero-e-Minto. It is built 
on the banks of the beautiful river Cavedo, and contains a handsome cathedral, sev- 
,eral convents, with a population of about fourteen thousand. The subjoined engra- 
ving gives an accurate view of one of the inhabitants of this city, in the common 
costume of the laboring classes. 

An obstinate battle was fought at Braga and in its vicinity, 
between the French invading army, under Napoleon, and the 
Portuguese, in which the former were victorious, although the 
battle was fought with the greatest bravery. The following ac- 
count is from the pen of an eye-witness : — 

The 20th of September, at nine o'clock, the French were in 
motion ; Franceschi and Merrnet leaving a detachment on the 
hill they had carried the night before, endeavored to turn the 
right of ihe people on the Monte Vallonga. 

Laborde, supported by La Houssaye's dragoons, advanced 
against the centre of the bridge connecting Carvalho with the 
Monte Adanfe. Hendelel, with a part of his division, and a 
squadron of cavalry, attacked the left, and made for the Ponte 
Porto. The Portuguese immediately opened a straggling fire 
of musketry and artillery in the centre ; but after a few rounds, 
the bursting of a gun created some confusion, from which La- 
borde's rapidly-advancing masses gave them no time to recover, 
and by ten o'clock, the whole of the centre was flying in disor- 
der down a narrow wooded valley, leading from the Adanfe to 
Braga. The French followed quick, and in the pursuit, discov- 
ering one of their voltigeurs, who had been prisoner, still alive, 
Laborer of Braga. but mutilated in the most shocking manner, they gave little or 




CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 



179 




180 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

no quarter. Braga was abandoned, and the victorious infantry passing through, 
took post on the other side ; but the cavalry continued the havoc for some distance 
on the road to Oporto ; yet, so savage was the temper of the fugitives, that, in pas- 
sing through Braga, they stopped to murder the corregidor and other prisoners in the 
jail ; then, casting the mangled bodies into the street, continued the flight. Mean- 
while, Hendelet, breaking over the left of the Monte Adanfe, descended upon Ponte 
Porto, and after a sharp skirmish, carried that bridge, and the village on the other 
side of the Cavado. 

Franceschi and Mermet found considerable difficulty in ascending the rugged sides 
of the Monte Vallonga, but having at last attained the crest, the whole of their ene- 
mies fled. The two generals then crossed the valley to gain the road of Guima- 
raens, and cut off that line of retreat, but fell in with three thousand Portuguese, 
posted above Falperra. These men, seeing the cavalry approach, drew up with 
their backs to some high rocks, and opened a fire of artillery ; but Franceschi, pla- 
cing his horsemen on either flank, and a brigade of infantry against the front, as at 
Verim, made them all charge together, and strewed the ground with dead. Never- 
theless, the Portuguese fought valiantly at this point, and Franceschi acknowl- 
edged it. 

The vanquished lost all their artillery, and above four thousand men, of which 
four hundred, oiily, were made prisoners. Some of the fugitives crossing the Cavado 
river, made for the Ponte de Lima, but the greater number took the road of Gui- 
raaraens. 

CiNTRA is a town of Portugal, In the province of Estremadura. It is built at the 
foot of a promontory, on the north side of the entrance of the river Tajo, commonly 
called the rock of Lisbon which lies between the mountains of Cintra. In this town 
was concluded, on the 22d of August, 1808, the celebrated convention between the 
British forces under Sir H. Dalrymple, and the French army under General Junot, 
the latter agreeing to evacuate Portugal with all their spoil ; and the English, by 
the conditions of this peace, lost everything that they had earned by a well-fought 
contest. Here was a beautiful palace built by the Moors, which was destroyed by 
an earthquake in 1655, but was rebuilt in the same style immediately after. This 
town is a favorite summer retreat of the inhabitants of Lisbon. 

The Douro. — The engraving represents the castle of St. John, on the north bank 
of the river Douro, protecting the entrance to that river, sufficiently difficult from the 
enormous bar, or sandbank, which almost reaches from side to side. Its position is 
sufficiently described by its name, St. Joao da Foz, meaning literally, St. John at the 
mouth of the river. It is a modern fortification, of irregular figure, and stands on 
an angle of the beach, at once facing the sea and the river, as a protection against a 
naval attack on the the city of Oporto, which stands at some distance, higher up the 
river. St. Joao da Foz is a post of much importance, but the opposite banks of the 
river being so much more elevated, completely command it. The view given opposite 
is from the Cabo Dello, a sandbank which runs out from the opposite bank a good 
way into the river, and represents the state of the building immediately after the 
last memorable siege by Don Miguel, during the late civil war. From the fortress 
we naturally turn to the river which it protects. Rio Douro, literally interpreted, is 
the golden river, and was probably so named at first from the great quantities of 
gold, both in dust and grains, found among its sands. The Douro is not the only 
river in the peninsula whose waters flowed over golden sands; the Tagus, the 
AgUeda in Spain, and several others, produced sufficient metal to aiford a consider- 
able trade. The sources, however, whence these precious particles flowed, have 
become exhausted ; and though gold is occasionally found, even now, mingled with 
the sand, the occurrence is by far too rare to oflFer any inducement to the cupidity of 
the natives. We need not be surprised that the waters of many of the rivers in the 
peninsula should have washed down from the mountains particles of a metal, of 
which, at one time, there was such an abundance. The enormous quantity of the 
precious metal carried from Spain and Portugal during the Carthaginian and Roman 
occupation, might well have drained the country, and, indeed, would lead us to 
doubt the truth of the statements handed down to us, did not the vast mines worked 
by those singular people attest their veracity. But the Douro may now be called 
the golden river, from another cause. Oporto, or the port, whence all the fine wines 
af this part of the country are shipped, is situated on its banks ; and the wealth 
which flows into the country from this source, is sufficient to warrant the appella- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 



181 




182 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

tion. The superiority of the wines of this parr of Portugal over those of the south, 
is too great to require any comment, and the rich vines grown in the neighborhood 
of the river, make a favorite port wine. 

During the wine season, the Douro may be seen crowded with the wine-boats, 
whose disproportioned sails have a singular effect as they sweep down the rapidly- 
flowing stream, toward Oporto, their place of destination. From the rapidity of the 
current, the voyage downward is performed in a few days; as the rush of waters, 
from the high lands over which it passes, carries them forward with a velocity 
nearly equal to our railroads, particularly when aided by the wind. The return, 
however, is the work of some weeks ; for the same cause which accelerates the 
voyage one way, retards it the other. The beauty of the scenery is unrivalled ; few 
rivers possess so many varied sources of delight to the lover of the sublime and 
beautiful in nature, as the Douro. Though its deep, dark waters are occasionally 
confined within over-arching precipices, the rich tinting of the hardy vine may be 
seen mingling with the ruggedness of the rocks, every cleft or ledge covered with 
verdure, and the terrible or sombre relieved by the beauty of the wild herbs and 
flowers which struggle for existence among the high masses ; and when it flows 
through the cultivated valleys, though its rapidity is abated, its beauties are fully 
equal. It is now the mountain torrent — now the broad river — now the rushing cat- 
aract — and again, the smooth though rapid stream ; yet slill, in all its characters, 
the source of weollh to all the districts through which it passes. 

The Douro rise^ in the province of Soria, in Spain, in a chain of mountains near 
the village of Almarza, in the kingdom of Old Castile ; the city of Soria, the capi- 
tal of the province, is watered by it ; Valladolid, Toro, and Zamora, are also on its 
banks. A few leagues from ihe last-mentioned place, it changes its course from a 
westerly to a southern one ; and from the village of Miranda becomes a boundary 
between Spain and Portugal, for the distance of sixty miles. When above Sobra- 
dilla, it resumes its westerly course, and falls into the sea at Oporto. The lightness 
of the soil, and the extreme velocity of this river, have created an immense har at its 
mouth; and the opposition of the current of the ocean, which is also very strong, 
causes a surf of so dangerous a character, as frequently to delay ships from entering 
the harbor, for five or six weeks together. For any species of navigation except that 
of the Vvriae-boais from the interior, the Douro is of no use beyond the city of 
Oporto. 

Several attempts have been made at improving the navigation of the Douro, bul 
all have been rendered vain by the apathy of the government. The Tagus might 
also be much improved, and a great source of national wealth opened by a free com- 
munication with the interior. A scheme was set on foot, some short time since, to 
establish a steam-navigation company on the Tagus; the government saw the im- 
mense advantages likely to result from such a company, and highly approved of the 
plans proposed, but absolutely refused to incorporate the company unless they exclu- 
ded all foreigners. 

There is no part of the peninsula which presents a greater diversity of character m 
its scenery than the immediate neighborhood of Setubal, or St. Ubes. The town 
itself, which is situated on the shores of a deep bay or arm of the sea about thirty 
miles south of Lisbon, possesses little worthy of remark beyond the beauty of the 
surrounding landscape. The natives attribute the foundation of Setubal to Tubal, 
the son of Lamech. It is however certain, that a city of antiquity once occupied the 
site, or nearly so, of the present town. Greek and Roman as well as Phoenician re- 
mains are frequently dug up, and the island of Troya, on the opposite side of the 
bay, still presents the ruins of some ancient buildings. The great earthquake which 
laid Lisbon in ruins, swallowed up many of those remains of antiquity whose solidity 
had hitherto withstood the slow but certain waste of time. What few relics have 
remained serve only to preserve traditions as vague as they are unsatisfactory. The 
Portuguese historians ascribe the foundation of the town to Ulysses, what remains 
exist are constructed of small stones, united with a cement as hard as granite, which 
indeed they somewhat resemble. The upper stories have been swept away by the 
great convulsions of nature, whose traces are everywhere visible throughout Porlu- 
gal ; but the solidity of these lower chambers, and the smallness of their size, seem 
to have preserved them pretty entire. They consist of one and occasionally two 
compartments, of an oblong square form, about twelve feet long by eight broad, and 
about seven feet deep ; they have neither windows nor doors, and the floors are com- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 



183 




184 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

posed of the same strong cement and stone as the walls, which are nearly three feet 
thick. Some of these curious cellars have been transposed in a curious manner by 
the earthquakes before mentioned ; one end being lified up on the higher bank, 
entire, like a square box, with one end resting on a s one, while two others, leaning 
outward, seem ready to slide into the sea in opposite directions. 

The island, or rather the peninsula, on which these ruins stand is of a singular 
form, and extends along the outside of the bay like a long wa-11, covering the harbor 
on every side, the entrance being very narrow. All the rivers of the peninsula are 
obstructed more or less by bars, the sandy nature of the soil over which they pass 
being peculiarly adapted for these formations. The river Ludao, though not so 
large as many others, yet passes over the sandy levels of the Alemtejo, and has car- 
ried down the soil to the bay of Setubal in such quantities as to have closed the 
harbor almost entirely, the opening in the bar being extremely small. This bar 
joins the island of Troya on one side, the sea on either side being of a great depth. 
On the main land, and at the foot of a high and precipitous cape, stands the fort 
Outao, a strong fortification, placed so as to close the harbor against any naval force. 
This cape, which forms the western point of the bay, is part of the range of the 
Arabida mountains, in which is erected the beautiful convent of the same name. 

The Serra d'Arabida extends from Cape Espichel to the Tagus, and covers the 
entire neck of land from Setubal to Moita ; it is on one of these mountains that 
Palmella town and castle stand, which town is visible from its extreme elevation 
for many leagues around, and is distinctly seen from Lisbon, a distance of twenty 
miles. It stands upon the top of an isolated mountain, which rising gradually from 
the plain to the castle that crowns its summit, falls suddenly on the opposite side. 
It is on this steep ascent that the high road to Lisbon is formed ; and notwithstand- 
ing the filthiness of Palmella, the wretchedness of the hovels called inns, and the 
badness and dearness of everything to be had, the traveller finds a few moments' 
rest a luxury, which can only be appreciated by those who have ascended a steep 
mountain road, beneath a burning southern sun. The castle of Palmella contains 
nothing worthy of a moment's pause ; but it commands boundless view of mountain 
and valley, land and sea, all mingled together in one wide expanse of beauty and 
grandeur. To the northward the horizon is bounded by the bald peaks of the Ci'ntra 
mountains, whose variegated and beautiful forms are admirably seen from any point 
of view; beneath these the capital of Portugal, with its domes and turrets glittering 
in the sunshine ; the noble Tagus, rolling his mighty tide to the sea ; the vast At- 
lantic sweeping a line of coast of thirty leagues in extent ; the mountains of Arabida 
toward the west, with all the varied alternations of precipice and valley, of thickly 
wooded ascent and bald bare peaks. Toward the south the lovely bay of Setubal, 
with its long island and picturesque town. To the east the sandy plains of Alemtejo, 
with many a stream winding its peaceful way to the Tagus or to the sea ; all these 
objects combined form a panorama of the most diversified and impressive character. 
The beautiful valley, represented in our engraving, is that which lies at the foot of 
the hill Palmella, and through which the high road passes. The great royal forest 
of the Alemtejo covers this valley, as indeed it does the neighboring mountains, to 
the sea, and the intervening valleys to the Tagus. The peculiar character of the 
pines (the principal wood of the forest) ; the frequent recurrence of the aloe, with its 
rigid leaves and golden flower ; and the singular forms of the prickly-pear, give an 
appearance peculiarly foreign to scenery sufficiently beautiful to fill with admiration 
the lovers of nature. But, unfortunately, the inhabitants of these lovely scenes seem 
unconscious of the charms by which they are surrounded. The peasantry who dwell 
on the borders of the forest admire its shade and its intricacies only as a means of 
seizing the unwary traveller, whom they frequently plunder without mercy. There 
is a remarkably fine pine-tree about half-way between Moita and Palmella, on the 
Lisbon road, well-known to the guerrillas and ladrones of the forest ; some few 
dozens having been executed on its widely spreading branches. Robberies however 
are not now so frequent as formerly in this forest, a more vigilant police, the constant 
movement of troops from place to place and in every direction, and the garrison of 
Palmella castle, have done much to insure the safety of the passenger ; but the state 
of the peasantry must be much ameliorated, before industry and persevering labor in 
the honest avocations of life, will be substituted for the precarious gains of crime. 

EvoRA. — The temple on the opposite page is the most beautiful remain of ancient 
architecture to lie found in Portugal, and one of the finest and best preserved speci- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 



185 




186 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

mens that exist in any part of Europe. The cityof Evora, in which it stands, is the 
capital of the fine province of Alemtejo. It is a place of great antiquity, and from 
its advantageous situation has probably been occupied as a town by all the successive 
races of men that have inhabited or conquered this part of the peninsula. According 
to Spanish and Portuguese antiquaries it was first built, by the Celts nearly eight 
hundred years before the Christian era, but of course no positive belief is to be given 
to assertions which are supported by no positive proof. Pliny and other Roman 
Avriters agree in thinking that it had been inhabited by the Gauls, PhcBnicians, and 
Persians, in very remote times. That extraordinary man Quintus Sertorius, who, 
proscribed by Sylla, and, flying from his tyranny, nearly succeeded in establishing 
a great and separate republic in Spain and Portugal, took Evora about eighty years 
before Christ, fortified it in the Roman manner, and adorned it with many public 
edifices. Its next conqueror was Julius Csesar, who further enlarged it, made it a 
principal town, and gave it the name of Liberalitas Julia. It continued, however, 
to be commonly called Ebura by the Romans, of which name the modern Portuguese 
denomination is only a slight corruption. It was taken by the conquering Moors in 
A. D. 715, and retaken from them in 1166 by the Portuguese Christians under the 
command of the celebrated Giraldo, " cavalheiro sim medo" (the knight without 
fear), whose person is still represented in the city arms, riding on horseback with a 
naked sword in one hand, and the heads of a Moorish man and woman in the other. 
Since that time it has been a frequent residence of the Portuguese sovereigns, and 
John ITI. bestowed some repairs on its Roman aqueduct and other ancient structures 
in the course of the sixteenth century. 

Evora is beautifully situated on an eminence which is nearly covered with orange 
and olive groves, vineyards, and orchards, while at the foot of the hill the country is 
laid out in corn-fields, and the middle distance varied with old and solemn-looking 
cork-woods. The city contains about 20,000 inhabitants, and is the seat of an arch- 
bishop. It formerly contained a prison and tribunal of the inquisition, but we are 
happy to say that even as far back as 1788 when Murphy travelled in Portugal, the 
offices of the inquisitors and familiars had become mere sinecures, and that the 
establishment has long been wholly suppressed. There was also a Jesuit college at 
Evora, but that, too, was suppressed at the expulsion of the order. 

The first object that attracts the attention of the traveller on arriving at Evora, is 
the ancient temple represented in our engraving, and which, from some inscriptions 
discovered, appears to have been dedicated to the goddess Diana. 

The front of this temple is what is called an hexastyle, i. e., it has six columns. 
The columns, of the delicate ornamental Corinthian order, are three feet four inches 
in diameter, and have suffered little from time and weather, or the violence of man. 
The entablature is entirely destroyed, except part of the first facia of the architrave. 
The sharp pinnacles by Avhich it is crowned, and which give the upper part of the 
temple the appearance of an eastern fortification, are an addition made by the Moors, 
who could never au^pt their beautiful but altogether different style of architecture to 
the style of the Greeks and Romans. The rest of the edifice is almost in its original 
condition, and is in a wonderful state of preservation, considering that in all proba- 
bility eighteen centuries have passed since it was built by the Romans. The material 
of the building is not marble, but fine hard granite. 

Antiquaries, who like to make everything as old as they can, have attributed the 
erection of this temple to Quintus Sertorius, and as Roman architecture was not 
equal in his time to so elegant a work, they have supposed he employed Greeks 
upon it. Perhaps a more reasonable supposition would be, that the temple was built 
about a century later, under the Roman emperors, when the arts were in a very ad- 
vanced state. 

The Portuguese having been rather deficient in taste with respect to this chaste 
and delicate temple: they have converted the interior into a slaughter-house for 
cattle to supply the butchers' shops of Evora. 

Having given our readers a view and a short description of the beautiful Temple 
of Diana at Evora, we now present them with some more interesting antiquities 
which exist at the same place. 

Our engraving represents a portion of the fine old Roman aqueduct, terminating 
toward the town with a circular castellum. These castella or castles answered more 
than one purpose. In the long water-courses and successions of aqueducts that sup- 
plied ancient Rome, they were erected at certain distances from each other as lodg- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 



187 




188 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

ing places for soldiers, who were charged with the protection and guard of the im- 
portant works ; and hence, in all probability, they derived their military name. Some 
of them were occupied by masons and builders constantly at hand to keep the 
aqueducts in repair, while others again merely served as fountains or conduits where 
the water could be procured and drawn off by means of pipes and cocks. In this 
latter sense, the old gray-stone building that used to be seen some years ago in the 
Pentonville fields near to White Conduit house, which place of entertainment took 
its name frctn it, was once a castellum, or, as we call it, a conduit, a term that 
equally implied an aqueduct or the pipe or cock at which water was drawn off. The 
tower at Evora is also a castellum of this sort. In the interior of it there is a reser- 
voir to hold part of the water conveyed across the arches ; and some pipes emit this 
water on the spot, while other tubes carried under ground convey the fluid to different 
fountains and cisterns within the town. In too many instances in Spain, Portugal, 
Italy, Dalmatia, and other countries where the ancient Romans left almost imperish- 
able evidences of their sway, in the stupendous buildings they erected, works of 
similar public utility have been suffered to go to decay and become useless ; but 
here both aqueduct and castellum are well preserved, and as useful as ever ; and 
the modern inhabitants of Evora still drink the wholesome water that was brought 
to the place by art and industry some eighteen hundred years ago. The aqueduct is 
built of stone mixed with hard marble-like mortar or cement. The castellum is 
most neatly constructed of brick, and coated over with the almost imperishable 
Roman tonica or plaster. These ancient bricks are altogether different from ours. 
They are flat like paving tiles, seldom more than two inches thick, and as hard and 
as thoroughly baked as the solid clayey substance called terra-cotta. They are laid 
down horizontally, or on their flat sides, and the cement or mortar placed between 
them binds them together with wonderful strength and compactness. Walls and 
even vaulted roofs composed of these materials are frequently found in the most per- 
fect state of preservation, when the parts of the same or some contiguous ancient 
edifice that were built of stone are mouldering away or in ruins. The fragility — 
the perishableness which attaches to most of our modern brick buildings has nothing 
in common with the ancient Roman walls of brick, to the quality of which, in 
any country where stone and marble are scarce, builders and architects would do 
well to turn their attention. The walls of the castellum at Evora are as perfect as 
if they were built yesterday, and indeed much stronger, for the cement hardens 
with time. 

The plan of this building, which will be better understood from our engraving 
than from words, is circular : its greatest circumference, not embracing the surround- 
ing columns, is thirty-eight feet. The columns, which are eight in number, are of 
the Ionic order. In each intercoluraniation there is a niche ; and a door in one of 
these niches gives access to the reservoir of water and the interior of the building. 
The second story of the castellum is decorated with Ionic pilasters, between which 
are apertures to admit light and air. The top of the building is covered with an 
hemispherical dome. 

There is another and more modern object at Evora which generally attracts the 
traveller's notice, and which is considered by many of the natives as far more curious 
than their Roman antiquities. When Mr. Murphy was there about half a century 
ago, and busily employed in making drawings of the temple and aqueduct, he was 
asked whether he had seen that wonder ^f Portugal, the human-bone or charnel- 
house in the Franciscan monastery. On replying that he had not, his interlocutor, 
with the pride of a Cicerone, said, " Well then, Mr. Stranger, you have seen noth- 
ing ! so pome along with me." Murphy went ; and after passing through the body 
of the Fraiiciscan church, was ushered into a gloomy, horrible vault, over the arch- 
way of which he read the following somewhat startling inscription: — 

" Nob OS ossos que aqui estamos 
Pellos V08S0S esperanios," 

or, " We whose bones are here are expecting your bones." 

This dismal apartment is about sixty feet long and thirty-six wide. On each side 
of the nave are four large, broad piers, and all the eight piers are completely covered 
over with grinning skulls and human bones, which are fastened upon them with a 
hard and rough stucco. Such exhibitions of the miserable remains of mortality are 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 189 

repugnant to our feelings ; and they produce no soberness of thought or salutary awe, 
being visited merely as curious shows. 

Evora is about eighty English miles from Lisbon, lying a little to the south of the 
high road from that capital to Badajoz and Madrid. Besides several Roman re- 
mains, some interesting Celtic ruins and altars are' found in the neighborhood of 
this ancient city. 



CHAPTER VIII.— PORTUGAL. 

Forests. — Besides the beauties of her cities, Portugal possesses many scenes of 
a highly romantic and interesting character, as well from the historical associations 
connected with them as from the rich and noble natural productions which adorn 
them. The soil of Portugal, like that of the neighboring kingdom (Spain), is ex- 
tremely light ; but the fine climate amply compensates for the want of a richer soil. 
The olive, the orange, the lemon, the fig, the pomegranate, the almond, and indeed 
every plant loving a warm climate, are to be found in the greatest luxury of growth. 
The deep tones of the olive mingling with the foliage of a lighter tint, and the 
golden hue of the orange and lemon through the dark leaves, give a character to 
the groves of Portugal peculiarly enchanting. The orchards of the nobility are for- 
ests of fruit-trees, interspersed with fountains in every possible variety of shape and 
situation ; and the coolness imparted to the atmosphere by the shadows of the trees 
and the playing of the water, renders a walk in their gardens exceedingly pleasant. 

But, notwithstanding the little labor which is necessary to make the soil productive, 
large tracts of land remain totally uncultivated, and others are covered with forests 
of pine or of cork. The royal forest of the Alemtejo (beyond the Tagus) is the 
largest in extent in the country, and is as beautiful in its appearance as varied in its 
productions ; now covering the level plain for leagues, and now climbing up the 
mountain-side ; now overshadowing the roaring torrent, and now spreading its green 
canopy over the beautiful valley ! Among the forest scenery, the pine bears a dis- 
tinguishing preponderance. Though these trees do not grow to the magnitude of the 
same species in the northern climates, yet they serve all the purposes for which they 
are required by the Portuguese : charcoal and wood for burning are indispensable 
requisites in a country where coal has not been discovered ; and the extreme inflam- 
mability of the pine renders it an invaluable product in the domestic economy of a 
Portuguese family. When used in the natural or uncharred state, the more resinous 
parts are cut out, and are used as lamps and torches by the country-people, while 
the remainder, in its greenest state, burns with a strong and bright flame. The pine 
also yields an exquisite nut, which the natives call " pintao," and of which they are 
exceedingly fond. The appearance, also, of the pine in the peninsula is diff"erent 
from any of the same family in colder climates. The trunk is bare from the root to 
the height of twenty, thirty, or forty feet, when the branches shoot out in lines 
curved upward, and pointed with the apple which yields the nut. There are also 
many specimens of the common Scotch fir, but not in sufficient quantities to form a 
prominent feature in the products of the country. There is a fir of this description 
near Moira, on the Tagus, which for grandeur and size I have not seen surpassed. 
It is known as the "guerrillas' tree," from the frequent robberies and executions 
which took place beneath- its branches, which were made to serve as a gallows to 
the thieves, when taken. Such specimens are, however, extremely rare ; the heat 
causes the trees to shoot up to a disproportionate height, and the necessity of supply- 
ing the country with charcoal causes them to be cut down before they can acquire 
size by age. Here and there, amid the boundless woods, may be seen an olive grove, 
or a vineyard, surrounded by a hedge of aloes, whose strong pointed leaves render 
them useful as a fence as well as ornamental. The oak grows in considerable quan- 
tities, but is dwarfish and insignificant compared with the cork-tree, which, in Por- 
tugal at least, is king of the forest. The ancient forests of these noble trees are now 
mostly converted into parks for the king or nobility ; they resemble much our larger 
kind of oak in the form of their branches, though, perhaps, more graceful ; the 
leaves are smoother, and of a brighter green ; the bark, which is of an immehse 



190 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

thickness, is extremely rugged, and of a yellowish tint, mixed with a bright gray, 
and not unfrequently covered with a species of dry gray moss. 

The most extensive cork-forest is situated a fnw miles from the town of Moira, in 
the Alemtejo. When we beheld it, the beauty of the scene was heightened by the 
temporary occupation of the troops of Don Pedro. The bivouac is always a scene 
of bustle and animation: the lively costume of the soldiers, the glitter of their 
arms, the artillery drawn up, the cavalry dismounted, the soldiers formed into 
groups of various magnitude, are at any time objects of interest ; but when sur- 
rounded by the noblest works of nature, the effect is irresistibly imposing. Such 
was the scene in the cork-forest of Moira, of which our engraving is a sketch; 
every tree became, as it were, a house for a dozen or more soldiers, the broad 
branches and thick foliag-e affording ample protection, as well from the heat of the 
sun by day as from the heavy dews by night; some were busied in preparations for 
the frugal meal, others were reposing after the fatigues of the march ; others, again, 
forming beds from the branches or underwood, and all happy that they could avail 
themselves of a protection and cover as beautiful as it was grateful. 

There is a remarkably fine specimen of the cork-tree at the pass of Matter Quatra, 
near Santarem. This tree, we have no doubt, will be well remembered by many 
travellers, as the picket in that romantic valley covers the road to Lisbon by Car- 
taxo ; and the tree itself served, and still serves, as a station for a sentinel in troubled 
times. 

As the manner of rearing the vine is somewhat peculiar in the peninsula, we shall 
briefly notice it. We are accustomed in Italy, and in some parts of France, to see 
the vine gracefully curling around the poles placed in the earth for their support, 
and the rich fruit hanging, in large bunches, from every branch ; but in the penin- 
sula, the vine is cut down almost to the ground, and in winter has much the appear- 
ance of a withered and blackened stump. With spring, however, the branches 
shoot out in every direction, till they attain the size of a currant-bush, which, indeed, 
they very much resemble. Only a few of these branches are suffered to vem;iin, 
and those which are left are cut at the end, to prevent them running into useless 
wood. The vine thus trimmed produces from eight to a dozen bunches, but these 
are of a superior flavor, and make the best wines. When the grapes are gathered, 
which is done with great care, and mostly by women, the inferior bunches are suf- 
fered to remain for a day or two, when they also are gathered, and manufactuied 
into a wine of lower quality, or hung up to dry for winter consumption. Imrnense 
quantities of grapes are cultivated, also, for the table. The Muscatel wine must be 
drank in its own country to be duly appreciated, for, from its exceeding richness, it 
loses its flavor by travelling ; even passing the Tagus depreciates it iu quality ; and 
the denizens of Lisbon, when they v/ant to enjoy a glass of Muscatel wine in per- 
fection, cross the river to some of the many wine-stores on the Almada side. 

The method of gathering the olive varies in different parts of the peninsula. The 
most general way in Portugal, however, is to beat them down with long poles, and 
afterward collect them in sacks, or baskets. Both the oil and the fruit are inferior 
by this method, as the fall bruises the produce too much. The Spaniards gather 
them all by hand, and though the process is more laborious and more expensive, 
ample compensation is made in the superiority of these olives over those beaten 
down by poles. When intended for food, they are prepared in two ways : one is 
simply to cut them, and soak them in salt and water, adding a few herbs to give a 
flavor ; the other is, first to dry them in the sun, whereby they become black, and 
afterward to put them in jars, with oil, salt, pepper, or other spices, adding also a 
few herbs. When eaten by the natives, they are invariably flavored with oil, and a 
little vinegar. With us, olives are used only as a luxury — disagreeable enough to 
those who are unaccustomed to their flavor ; but in the countries of their growth, 
they are essential articles of food. The shepherd takes nothing with him to the 
field but a little bread, a flask of wine, and a horn of olives ; the carretiero, or car- 
man, carries with him only his wineskin, his loaf, and olives ; and the laborer in the 
field, and the peasant in his cottage, often have nothing more till nightfall ; indeed, 
bread and olives form an extremely nutritive and refreshing diet. 

The olive-tree is extremely picturesque and grotesque in its form, the trunk some- 
times consisting of a huge mass of decayed wood, with young and graceful branches 
springing from the top and sides ; at other times a large and bushy tree may be seen 
supported upon two or more small fragments of the same apparently dead wood, 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 



191 




192 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

while the remainder of the trunk is completely hollowed out. The wood hums 
readily when green, and the leaves emit a strong, sparkling flame, and apparently 
contain much oil. The ground between the olive-trees is not lost, being frequently 
sown with grain, and sometimes, though rarely, planted with vines. The deep color 
of the foliage of this most useful tree gives a solemn character to the landscape, and 
subdues the usual vivid brilliancy of color — the effect of the clearness of the atmo- 
sphere and the heat of the climate. Green, such as adorns our own meadows, is a 
color never seen in a Portuguese landscape ; the scanty herbage, which springs up 
spontaneously, is burned by the sun into a bright straw-color, and the soil, through 
the great heat, becomes almost white. On the sides of the hills, however, the beau- 
tiful pale purple flower of the wild thyme, and the delicate gray of its leaf, contrast 
prettily with the surrounding glare ; and it is only the olive, with its deep hues and 
the low, bushy vines, which can claim the name of green. The cultivation of the 
orange and the lemon is confined chiefly to the neighborhood of large cities, very 
few groves of these fruits being met with in the open country. 

The Spanish bull-fight has been often described ; but that species of bull-fight 
which, while it aff'ords pastime to the people, subdues the noble animal to be a par- 
taker of the labors of the husbandman, is, we believe, little or not at all known in 
this country. The peninsula abounds with extensive forest lands, which, though 
reaching over a wide extent of country, is sufficiently open to afi'ord pasture and 
food to herds of wild cattle, who roam almost unmolested among their shades. 
The great forest of the Alemtejo is an apt illustration. In this, some hundreds of 
square miles of country are occupied by growing timber ; but within its bounds large 
open spaces exist which serve for pasturages, and occasionally a farm, a vineyard, 
or an olive-grove, may be seen struggling, as it were, for existence amid the vast 
solitudes. But though occasional glimpses of culture appear, they are far too few 
and far between to offer any serious check to the increase and independence of the 
herds which roam around them undisturbed. It was in this forest that a writer wit- 
nessed, for the first time, the method of capturing the wild bulls. 

" I had received intimation," says this writer, " that the village of Alcoxete, on 
the Tagus, was to be the scene of a bull-fight, and that the villagers for many miles 
round were invited to join in the hunt, which was to take place on the following 
day. I accordingly crossed the river in company of about twenty persons, mostly 
military, each being provided with a long pole, having a small spike fixed in one 
end, and mounted as inclination or ability suited. When we arrived on the opposite 
bank, a little before daybreak, we found about two hundred and fifty or three hun- 
dred persons assembled, some mounted on different sorts of quadrupeds, from the 
noble Andalusian horse to the humble hack donkey, and very many on foot. They 
were all armed in a similar manner to ourselves. As soon as daylight began to ap- 
pear we all marched off toward the forest. The morning was peculiarly fine, and 
the interest of the beautiful scenery was heightened by the varied costumes of the 
persons by whom we were surrounded. As soon as we had advanced some distance 
into the wood we halted for the purpose of refreshment, before the arduous and 
somewhat perilous duties of the day began. After a hasty meal we divided into 
two parties, one stretching in a long line to the right, and the other to the left. We 
had not advanced far in this manner before we fell in with a herd of cattle having 
twelve bulls with it, which no sooner descried us than they bounded off with the 
speed of lightning. The sport had now begun ; we put our horses to the utmost 
speed, threading our way among the tall pine-trees as well as we could, and endeav- 
oring by wild cries to drive the bulls toward the other party. At length, after about 
an hour's chase, some half dozen of us who were better mounted than the rest came 
up with them, and commenced the attack with our long poles. The manner was 
this : one person riding at full speed gave the bull nearest him a sharp prick with 
the goad, which it no sooner felt than it turned upon its assailant and gave chase ; 
another horseman then coming up attacked it on the other side, when, leaving the 
first assailant, it turned upon the second ; he in like manner was rescued by a third, 
and so on. The attention of the infuriated animal thus distracted prevented his 
escape, and gave time for the other hunters to come up. The bulls were thus at 
length separated from the herd. A sufl5cient number having arrived to form a circle 
round them, we commenced operations for the purpose of driving them toward the 
town. All the skill of the riders was now necessary, and all the activity possessed 
by both man and horse, to keep clear from the pointed horns which on every side 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 



193 




13 



194 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

were directed against him, as well as to prevent the herd from breaking through 
the living net with which it was surrounded. This was, perhaps, the most difficult 
part, and was attained by keeping each hull separately engaged, and thus prevent- 
ing united action ; for what line was sufficient, armed as we were, to resist the simul- 
taneous rush of these most powerful animals. The continued activity and exertion 
requisite had used up many poor jades who had started in the morning, and the 
circle became smaller and smaller as the day advanced ; several, too, had been car- 
ried off severely gored and wounded by the horns and feet of the bulls. I, however, 
and the party with whom I started, were resolved to see the conclusion, and redoub- 
ling our efforts, we at length, about four o'clock in the afternoon, succeeded in driving 
them into an enclosure where were a number of oxen (all at one time wild) with 
bells, quietly grazing. Here they were kept till required for the next day's sport. 

" The square of Alcoxete had been fitted up in the form of an arena, with seats, 
or rather standing-places, all round ; the centre was carefully cleaned, all stones 
removed, and fresh sand strewed. At one side a cart was stationed for a purpose to 
he presently described ; at the other a pen was fitted up for the reception of each bull 
as it was to make its appearance, communicating by a door with the place where the 
herd was enclosed. The difficulty of bringing the bulls from their temporary rest- 
ing-place to the scene of their humiliation Was not less than that of their original 
capture. Through the forest they had only the trees, and shrubs before them, to 
which they were accustomed; and if the line of huntsmen alone was sufficient to 
awaken their rage and terror amid scenes familiar to them, how much more must 
those feelings have been excited when passing through the streets of a town crowded 
with people, the houses gayly decorated with red, blue, white, and green hangings," 
and greeted with a thousand tongues in the joyfulness of expectation ? Twice the 
terrified and furious herd turned and dashed through the assembled crowd, tossing 
and goring all who ventured to oppose them, and twice the circling horsemen 
brought them back. One fine black bull took to the river and swam out about two 
miles before a boat could be put off to recapture it. Several of the English soldiers 
who were quartered near the town swam after it, when a fishing-boat came up, and 
fixing a cord round the bull's horns, towed it in. The soldier, however, was re- 
solved not to have his trouble for nothing, and mounting on its back, was landed 
safely amid the shouts of the spectators. The sport of baiting the bulls for the pur- 
pose of taming them, began at three in the afternoon, when the heat of the sun had 
somewhat abated. Six of the wild. animals were ushered into the circus, surrounded 
by a band of mounted picadores, and accompanied by several tame cattle with bells, 
when one by one they were secured with cords to a cart, and a leathern cap placed 
on the points of the horns, after which they were all driven into the pen. The cir- 
cus was then cleared, and the combatants entered, gayly attired in the Andalusian 
costume, the grace and elegance of which must be seen to be properly understood. 
The hair, which is worn long, is confined in a black silk bag, which is fastened with 
bows of black riband ; the light-colored velvet jacket covered with gold lace and 
silver gilt buttons, the velvet vest richly embroidered, the lace shirt, red silk sash, 
velvet breeches and silk stockings, ail harmonizing in color and form, set off" the 
figure to the best advantage, and add to the grace and elegance for which the Anda- 
lusian is so justly celebrated. These men, of whom there were five or six, are ac- 
customed from their infancy to the dangerous employment of bull-fighting, and the 
agility and dexterity displayed in evading the furious attacks of the bull are aston- 
ishing. After carefully examining the arena, they each armed themselves with four 
short barbed darts, and waited for the coming "of the bull ; they had not to wait 
long : the door was thrown open and the animal rushed into the centre, greeted by 
the shouts and vivas of the spectators. One of the men advancing invited the 
attack, when the bull, who, at first, bewildered and amazed, had stood tearing up 
the earth with its feet till almost hid from view by the cloud of dust, lashing itself 
into fury with its tail, rushed upon its opponent. All who were not accustomed to 
such spectacles thought the man must inevitably have perished ; but just as the long 
and powerful horns seemed to touch his body he stepped nimbly aside, and, turniiig 
smartly round, planted all four darts in the animal's neck just behind the horns. 
Loud shouts of applause rewarded his dexterity, and the bull, more enraged than 
ever, ran round the arena, tearing up the earth and bellowing with rage, until en- 
countered by a second picadore with like success. After his opponents had exhaust- 
ed themselves in exciting the rage of the bull, they quitted the arena, and the popu- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 



195 




196 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

lace were admitted to throw the bull. This was generally done by one man leaping 
between the horns, upon which he supported himself in an upright posture, till 
relieved by his companions, who threw the bull to the ground. The cry of ' largo, 
largo,' was the signal for its liberation, when, some tame cattle being admitted, it 
was led by them to the pen. Six bulls were thus baited the first day, the other six 
on the day follow;ing. Three weeks afterward I had these very animals under my 
charge as baggage-oxen, as tame and gentle oxen as could be desired." 

Smuggling. — In all countries where the imposts on commerce are heavy, and the 
government inactive or corrupt, smuggling will exist in a proportionate degree. 
The facilities for contraband trade in the peninsula are very great, for the govern- 
ment, though avaricious to the last degree, has not sufficient energy to check men 
who rove about the country in the face of day, in bands of from forty to fifty. It is 
true that the system, so long practised by the government, of conniving at evils they 
have not ability to crush, has given the contrabandistas a power sufficient to cause 
much trouble ; they are invariably well mounted, well armed, and ready on all occa- 
sions to meet the threatened danger. Indeed, so lax is the police, that they not only 
find a ready market in the open towns and villages, but fearlessly enter fortified 
towns and forts, transact business in open defiance of the law, and march out at their 
pleasure, without any particular notice being taken of them. I was much surprised 
one day to see a police report given to the governor of Elvas, which announced the 
arrival of fifteen Spanish smugglers from Badajoz as a mere matter of course. If 
an hotel in France contained fifteen, or even one such guest, with their contraband 
goods with them, the house would soon be surrounded by swarms of customhouse 
officers, and the goods, as well as their owners, conveyed in a marvellously short 
space of time to a place of security ; and if the guilty knowledge was capable of 
proof, to a place of punishment. But here there seems to be a mutual understand- 
ing between the authorities and the contrabandistas, by means of which the business 
is conducted on the most amicable terms. 

As the life of a contrabandista (which means, properly speaking, a land smug- 
gler) is to a certain extent roving and romantic, so are his habits lively and ener- 
getic, and his costume picturesque. The best accommodation the inns can afford 
are his, whether on the road or in the town, and frequently his gay and cheerful 
temper renders him an agreeable visitant. As he has ample opportunities of col- 
lecting information in his continuous perambulations, he is considered as a walking 
newspaper, and may be seen in his brown jacket with its gaudy embroidery and sil- 
ver bell buttons, his red sash and shirt of lace, his short loose trowsers and conical 
hat, standing at the hostel door, recounting the news to a group of eager listeners, 
or seated in the chimney-corner, with his wine-skin by his side, and cigar in his 
mouth, enlivening the company with his guitar. When the contrabandista is 
mounted, the animal carries him, his arms, and his goods. His arms consist gener- 
ally of a cutlass, two braces of pistols, one in holster and the other in his belt, and 
a long Spanish gun ; this latter is carried between the thigh and the saddle in a pe- 
culiar manner, with the barrel pointed downward. The goods are packed in small 
bales or cases, and slung over the crupper of the saddle, which is adapted for the 
purpose; and thus mounted and accoutred, it becomes a difficult matter to seize the 
goods without first taking the man. 

In Portugal the articles of illicit trade are not wines or spirits. These produc- 
tions are so similar in other countries, as to render the smuggling of them of no 
advantage ; but goods of Spanish manufacture, cigars, tobacco, chocolate, soap, 
jewelry, the lighter articles of dress, lace, &c., all of Avhich bear heavy duties, are 
thus imported in large quantities. Along the coast smuggling is practised much 
less than on the frontiers ; although the traffic in cigars and tobacco is considerable, 
the entire monopoly of these articles by one individual, the Marquis de Quentilla, 
renders them not only of a high price, but also of an inferior quality, none being 
allowed to enter the country, except from the Portuguese colonies. The conse- 
quence is, that contraband cigars are held in great esteem, not only for their supe- 
rior quality, but also for their reduced price ; the usual price of Havanas, and what 
are called Gibraltars, from these men, being about twenty crusadoes nove the thou- 
sand, or about one cent each, while the trash sold by the estanco is at the same 
price. It must be remarked that the Portuguese are seldom seen without a cigar 
in their mouths. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— PORTUGAL. 



197 




198 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



CHAPTER IX.— SPAIN. 

Of all the great countries of Europe, Spain is, perhaps, the least known. Its sta 
tistics are yet in a state of uncertainty ; the amount of its population has not heen 
determined within a million or two. Even Laborde, the most accurate traveller that 
has visited that couiitry, has fallen into error on this subject. It appears, however, 
that the present population of Spain is somewhat betAveen thirteen and fourteen mil- 
lions. The great cities of Spain are few and far between ; the communications are 
slow and insecure ; the face of the land is rugged, and intersected by high ridges of 
mountains; there are no canals or navigable rivers, and few carriage roads ; mules 
carry on the commercial intercourse of Spain. Intellectual intercourse between the 
various parts of the kingdom is at a still lower ebb. Few books are printed, few 
people read, and there is hardly a newspaper, deserving the name, in the whole 
land. It is evident that the people of such a country can little resemble those of 
France, Germany, England, or even Italy. 

Spain is essentially, and almost solely, an agricultural country. Its rural popula- 
tion forms the great body of the nation ; and he who would judge of Spain ought to 
make himself acquainted with the country-people, their character, habits, and feel- 
ings, rather than draw his inferences from the limited society of Madrid, Barcelona, 
or Cadiz. Several of the apparent contradictions in the late history of that country 
would become resolved by attending to this principle. 

The number of landowners and farmers throughout Spain amounts to nearly one 
million; that of the laborers and shepherds to full as many. These, with their fam- 
ilies, constitute the great bulk of the population, while the tradespeople, merchants, 
artisans, and manufacturers, altogether, do not amount to half a million, scattered 
about different parts of the kingdom. 

The Spanish peasantry, taken in a body, are perhaps the finest, and certainly the 
proudest, in Europe. They are generally well-made and robust, very frugal and pa- 
tient under privations, naturally solemn and taciturn, high-spirited, and brave. An 
exclusive love of their native country, and a dislike to foreigners, are with them tra- 
ditional feelings, connected with their religion, ever since the period of the Moorish 
wars. At the same time, they have so little idea of the construction of the social 
and political body, that they even lately did not know the meaning of the word 
nation, and they applied their corresponding word, nacion, to designate foreigners, 
exclusively and indiscriminately. They had never heard of " the Spanish nation," 
until the constitution of 1820 adopted the appellation ; but they knew the meaning 
of Spain, and Spaniards, and still better those of Casiilians, Andalusians, Valencians, 
&c., according to their respective provinces. Their good qualities are obscured by 
prejudices ; their sternness degenerates, at times, into ferocity, as their piety does into 
superstition. Yet, in the common intercourse of life, in quiet times, they appear 
warm-hearted, good-tempered, and civil. Although uninformed, they are very far 
from dull ; and though poor, they are not unhappy. " Nothing," says the late M. 
Martignac, who accompanied the French army in 18^3, in a high and important 
capacity, " nothing in other countries resembles the Spanish peasant — the Spanish 
laborer.- Everywhere else the peasant is a man of toil and of want, daily and en- 
tirely absorbed by the necessity of providing subsistence for himself and family. In 
Spain, the journeyman, the lal)orer, is never entirely engrossed by a similar care. 
His wants have been so reduced by frugal habits, that the fear of destitution seldom 
disturbs his repose or affects his humor. Strangers who visit Spain, and pay atten- 
tion to the manners and the language of the humbler classes, are struck with the 
simple, easy, and often elevated talk of the country-people. Their conversation is 
never trivial or vulgar, ihey reason justly, and often express generous sentiments with 
a natural nobleness. Above all, they have a feeling of pride, which makes them 
disdain proffered assistance or gratification, for a voluntary service. At Buytrago, I 
went to visit the fine estate of the duke of Infantado, and its flock of Merino sheep. 
The steward gave me a farm-servant to show me about. The latter fulfilled his 
charge with intelligence and politeness. At the moment of departure, I felt some- 
what embarrassed how to show my gratitude, without wounding his national pride. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAIN.. 199 

I glanced at ray guide's attire — it showed but little of comfort ; his children, whom 
we had met, were in tatters. I resolved to offer him ray mite, and on arriving at the 
gate, I attempted to slip, as quietly as I could, a gold piece into his hand. He was 
in the attitude of bowing very low, while showing us out ; but, at the touch of the 
money, he raised himself proudly up, and told me, with an accent of repressed anger, 
'Sir, we stand in no need of any one's assistance ; our master is a great lord, who 
does not let his people want for anything.' A similar feeling makes the Spanish 
peasant impatient of advice, and averse to any novelty that wounds his feelings, his 
habits, or his faith. Such is the Castilian peasant ; such, also, the Aragonese, with 
a greater admixture of obstinacy ; such the Catalonian, with greater activity, and 
also a deadlier spirit of revenge. In the southern provinces there are greater re- 
mains of barbarism and ferocity, owing, perhaps, to the more protracted struggle 
with the Moors, and also to their African neighborhood," ' 

It would be indeed absurd to attempt to reduce the whole population of so vast a 
country as Spain, to a fixed standard. There are considerable shades of difference 
between the native of the northern provinces, bordering on the Atlantic ocean, and 
the inhabitant of the sunny coast of the Mediterranean ; and also between these 
two and the dweller in the great central table-land of Castile, Leon, and Estrema- 
dura. These may be considered as the three grand divisions of Spain. 

Laborers' wages are lower in the north than in Castile and the other central prov- 
inces, where the population is thinner, and villages at a greater distance from each 
other. The working-days are about two hundred and seventy-three in the year, the 
rest being Sundays and other holydays. The food of the laboring classes consists of 
bread, bacon, Spanish peas or beans, oil, garlic, greens, and wine. They seldom 
eat fresh meat ; salt fish is a relish on meager days. The men lay out but little 
upon clothes, their outer garment being made of sheepskins, or coarse woollen 
cloth, which lasts out a man's life. Spanish bread is not fermented like ours, but is 
compact and cake-like ; it has, however, a very good taste, for Spanish wheat is of 
excellent quality. The common wine in the central and northern provinces, where 
it is the universal beverage, is generally very poor ; but in the south of Spain, 
whence the fine wines come, in the districts of Xeres, Rota, Malaga, Alicant, the 
country-people hardly drink any ; it is too valuable for them. In Catalonia, and 
other provinces near the Mediterranean sea, a family of four persons will dine upon 
half a pound of salt-fish, bread, and oil, and sup on a lettuce. The Catalonians, 
however, are very fond of wine and spirits, but one seldom sees a Spaniard intoxi- 
cated, except among the lowest populace of the cities. Smoking is universal, but 
on a very economical plan ; they carry a tobacco-stick in their pocket, out of which 
they cut a piece, crumble it in the palm of their hand, wrap it up in paper, and the 
cigar is thus made. 

In the wide plains of Castile and Leon, the great corn-country of Spain, and in 
the other central provinces, very few farmhouses are to be seen ; the inhabitants are 
crowded together in villages, and the houses, made of bricks baked in the sun, look 
dilapidated and comfortless. It is only in the north, or in some of the maritime dis- 
tricts of the south, that one sees anything like the farmhouses and cottages of other 
countries. The Castiiians have of old a singular aversion against trees, as being 
the means of attracting and sheltering birds, who would peck the corn. This na- 
kedness of the great table-land of Spain struck, particularly, an American traveller, 
who has written a very interesting tour of that country. " After having long since 
stripped the country of its trees, the Castilian, instead of creating nurseries for their 
restoration, has such an abhorrence for everything of the kind, that he will even pre- 
vent the establishment of them along the high roads, by wounding those which the 
government has been at the expense of planting there. In consequence of their 
proscription in the interior of Spain, it has been remarked that the soil, scorched by 
a powerful sun, with no trees to moderate its force, or attract humidity, has gradu- 
ally lost its streams and fountains, of which nothing now remains but empty ra- 
vines, to mark the forgotten source of former fertility." The mountains of New Cas- 
tile supply the inhabitants of the plains with charcoal for fuel. Nothing is more 
strikingly dreary than the country round Madrid ; not a grove, nor an orchard, nor 
country-seat, to be seen. The fields in Castile are not enclosed ; the corn is thrashed 
and left on the ground, till the dealers and speculators in corn, to whora, in most 
cases, the harvest is mortgaged beforehand, corae to fetch it away. The farmers 
are without capital, and therefore are incapable of making improvements on their 



200 . SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

lands. The markets are distant, and although corn is often double the price in Gal- 
licia, Asturias, and other maritime provinces, to what it is in the central ones, yet 
the expense of carriage on mules' backs, or in carts drawn by oxen, absorbs the 
whole profit. Nearly one half of the produce goes in the shape of taxes and tithes, 
and out of the other half, the tenant must pay his rent and support himself. 

We have said that there is considerable difference between the various provinces 
of Spain with regard to agriculture. In Valencia, Murcia, and Grenada, the systerh 
of irrigatior. prevails. There the country, sloping between the mountains and the 
sea, is formed either by nature or art into luxuriant platforms, rising above each other 
like the grades of an amphitheatre. The streams descending from the mountains 
are turned into numerous channels lo irrigate the whole. The right to the use of 
every stream is of course nicely defined. When the season arrives, those who enjoy 
water* privileges sedulously prepare their fields, open their sluices, fill the ditches, 
and inundate the whole, even to vineyards and olive orchards. In consequence of 
this system, productions are multiplied to a wonderful extent, and the earth continues 
prolific throughout the year. The mulberry-trees are thrice stripped of their leaves, 
and the meadows of clover and lucerne are mown eight or even ten times; citrons 
are often gathered of several pounds weight, and bunches of grapes of fourteen 
pounds ; wheat sown in November yields thirty for one in June ; barley in October 
gives twenty in May ; rice in April yields forty in October, and Indian corn planted 
as a second crop gives one hundred fold. 

In the north, the provinces of Navarre and Biscay are the best cultivated ; the 
inhabitants are industrious and comfortable. They enjoy their own local adminis- 
tration, and vote the taxes among themselves. They compound with the king's 
treasury, and for a certain sum are free from a number of petty taxes to which the 
rest of Spain is subject. They have also manufactures, especially of iron, having 
coal-mines in their country. The Biisque provinces form a sort of separate kingdom, 
having their separate laws and language. 

The mountaineers of Gallicia, at the western extremity of Europe, tlirown out as 
it were into the stormy Atlantic, which washes their rugged country on two sides, 
are poor, hardy, and patient. The soil being too barren to afford maintenance to a 
numerous population, the Gallegos emigrate by thousands, and resort to the large 
cities, especially to Madrid and Lisbon, where they perform the offices of- porters 
and water-carriers. They have a general reputation for honesty, very different from 
the natives of the sunny land of Valencia, who have a bad name in Spain. The 
Asturians share the same condition and pursuits as their neighbors of Gallicia, with 
something of a more adventurous character. 

The mesta is a source of tribulation to many a Spanish farmer. It is a chartered 
company of proprietors of sheep, who have the right of grazing their flocks over all 
the pasture lands of Spain, subject to trifling fees. The number of their sheep amounts 
to about five millions, and they employ about fifty thousand persons, in the capacities 
of agents, shepherds, and other servants. They have officers and judges who exercise 
many oppressions over those who stand in the way of their assumed rights and 
privileges. The sheep migrate from the plains to the mountains in the summer, 
and back again before the winter, trespassing over the cultivated lands, driving the 
other flocks out of their meadows, and causing much mischief. This is one reason 
\yhy the fields in central Spain are unenclosed. The company of the mesta monopo- 
lize the wool trade, the private graziers and sheep proprietors having no chance of 
competing with such a powerful and wealthy body, which reckons among its members 
men high in office, noblemen, and dignitaries of the church. This evil has been 
long complained of by Spanish agriculturists ; it is one of the most extraordinary 
monopolies ever granted in any country. 

The arricros or muleteers form a numerous and rather conspicuous part of the 
Spanish population. Mules are preferred in Spain for driving, as being more sure- 
footed and hardierof living than horses. Besides which, there are caravans of mules, 
with loads on their backs, constantly crossing Spain on the various roads, carrying 
corn, rice, flour, pulse, wine, and oil in skins, as well as goods from the seaports to 
the interior. The muleteer is a primitive being ; he wanders all over the vast 
peninsula; his home is everywhere ; light-hearted and jovial, he is also honest, and 
his punctuality in general may be depended upon. He is very kind to his mules, 
calls them by their names, talks to them, scolds them, and his first care on arriving 
at the inn is to see them comfortably provided for, and then, and not till then, he 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAIN. 



201 




202 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

thinks of himself. He is sutler or travelling merchant, carries parcels, and executes 
commissions for the people on his road. The master muleteer, or owner of -a num- 
ber of mules, sends his servants on various journeys, pays their expenses on the road| 
besides their wages. On more important and profitable expeditions he sets forth 
himself. During the war in the peninsula, the muleteers were much employed by 
the English commissariat, to carry provisions for the army, and they were paid 
handsomely. Accordingly, some of them were known to have come with their mules 
from the heart of Castile, then in possession of the French, to the frontiers of Portugal, 
where the English cantonments were, evading the French posts and scouring parties. 
Having spoken of the laboring classes we will now make a few remarks on the 
population generally. 

The Spaniard of the southern provinces, requires his shade in summer and sunshine 
in winter, his tobacco, his melons, his dates, and his wine, and he asks no more. 
But in opposition to this indifference to political rights, the Spaniard offers many 
valuable national points of character ; he is in general reserved, honest, temperate, 
and pious ; and though frugal, is so indifferent to outward goods, that were he less 
courteous and good-humored, he might pass for a practical philosopher of the school 
of Diogenes. The Spanish ladies are, generally speaking, of a middle size, and 
well formed, with an expressive countenance, brilliant eyes, beautiful teeth, and 
black hair. 

The females are distinguished for beauty of person and dignity of manners ; their 
complexion is dark ; and they dress with taste and move with ease and grace. They 
are characterized by intelligence, deep feeling, fidelity, and constancy, but they are 
almost entirely uneducated. 

The Spaniards, like the Italians, have been celebrated for their abstemiousness 
with regard to meat and drink. Perhaps this virtue in both is more imaginary 
than real ; and where real, is perhaps more the consequence of necessity than choice. 
The breakfast is said to be generally chocolate ; the dinner, beef, veal, and pork, but 
above all, mutton, dressed in various ways. This must be understood of the higher 
ranks ; the diet of the lower classes is extremely meager, consisting chiefly of vegeta- 
bles, such as radishes, garlic, and onions. Wine is said to be used only in small 
quantities — a circumstance which has been attributed to the heat of the climate ; 
the poverty of the inhabitants is a cause no less probable. To sleep after dinner is 
customary with both sexes of almost every rank. The time of taking air is in the 
evening ; the heat of mid-day being so intense as almost to preclude every species 
of exercise. The theatre is but little frequented. The reason which has been gen- 
erally assigned, is the insipidity of the greater part of the dramatic pieces ; but this 
reason is by no means satisfactory. All excellence is comparative ; and the Spaniard, 
who has no just standard by which to judge of the dramas of his own country, will 
no doubt consider them as excellent, and consequently admire them in the representa- 
tion. That the Spaniards are not deficient in wit and humor, is evident from the 
works of several of their writers Avell-known in every nation of Europe. The comic 
scenes in many of the chapters of Don Quixote are exquisite. Dancing is a favorite 
amusement ; but one, it must be owned, somewhat incompatible with the alleged 
gravity of the nation. 

Under the mild sky of Spain every animal and vegetable production is rapidly 
matured by the ceaseless activity which nature displays throughout the whole year. 
The fruits and plants of this country offer a greater variety, and are more luxuriant, 
than those of any other country of Europe. The principal production in the animal 
kingdom is the horse, which in Spain is a noble and beautiful animal ; but it has 
degenerated in most of the provinces, and it is only in a few studs that the true 
Andalusian breed is still to be found. The Asturian horse is not so fine as that of 
Andalusia, but is stronger. Asses are very large here, and mules are held in higher 
estimation than horses. The cattle are small and not of a fine appearance. The 
strong bull of Andalusia lives wild in the Sierra Morena. The sheep of Spain are 
celebrated for the fineness of their fleece and for the delicacy of their mutton. 
There are three kinds, viz. : merinos, with a short soft wool ; chourros, with higher 
legs, a smaller head, and coarser wool ; and metis, which are a race between the 
two former breeds. Bears and wolves exist in the Pyrenees ; monkeys on the rocks 
of Gibraltar and on the Sierra de Ronda ; there are also chameleons, lizards — among 
which is the legartho, two feet in length — serpents, and vipers. We find here do- 
mestic and wild fowls of diflferent kinds, larks of an extraordinary size, eagles, and 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAIN. 20b 

the magnificent flamingo. There are not many varieties of fresh-water fish ; but 
the seas are very rich in various kinds of excellent fish, oysters, mussels, and corals. 
Bees, silkworms, cantharides or Spanish flies, tarantulas, locusts, and mosquitoes, 
are numerous. The finest wines are those of Malaga, Tinto, Xeres, Alicante, and 
Valdepenas. A good many grapes are also exported in a fresh and a dried state. 
The fruits of the south are lemons, bitter and SAveet oranges, pomegranates, figs, 
dates, olives, almonds, pistachio-nuts, and capers; apples, pears, cherries, peaches, 
and chestnuts, are grown in the northern provinces. The quantity of hazel-nuts 
• which are exported from Catalonia is remarkable ; carubes are eaten, and are also 
made use of for feeding cattle. Vegetables of all kinds, asparagus, artichokes, 
onions, melons, potatoes, flax, hemp, -cotton, madder, aloes, and liquorice, thrive 
well. On the Pyrenees, the Cantabrian mountains, the Sierra Nevada, and the 
Sierra Morena, are fine forests ; but there is a scarcity of wood on the table-land of 
the interior. Among the forest-trees of Spain we may enumerate oaks, tamarisks, 
pines, beeches, chestnut-trees, nut-trees, firs, poplars, and the sumach, the bark of 
which is used by tanners and dyers. 

Spain was always celebrated for its minerals, indeed, it originally supplied the 
ancient inhabitants of Europe with the greater part of the precious metals which 
they possessed. The silver of Spain was not only abundant in quantity, but, in 
respect of quality, was preferred to that of all other regions. In the time of Han- 
nibal, the mine called Bebelo is said to have yielded daily three hundred pounds 
weight of this precious metal ; but the southern districts were celebrated as being 
the richest in the precious metals. 

As this kingdom is situated under the same parallel of latitude as Italy, its climate 
is extremely similar. In the northern parts the cold is never excessive; but the 
heat in the southern districts, during the three months nearest midsummer, is very 
great, and would be sometimes almost intolerable, were it not lessened by the sea- 
breeze, which begins to blow at nine in the morning, and lasts till five in the 
evening. The interior, being generally considerably elevated, is not so warm as 
might be expected from the latitude under which it is situated ; and here the tem- 
perature is more regulated by the degree of elevation than the geographical position. 
It is the extraordinary configuration of this country which accounts for the aridity 
of the soil in the interior of the Castiles, the amount of evaporation, the want of 
rivers, and that difference of temperature which is observable between Madrid and 
Naples, two cities situated in the same latitude. 

It is only since the eighteenth century that navigable canals have been executed 
in Spain. But several small irrigatory canals, of very ancient date, exist in the 
provinces of Seville, Jaen, Cordova, Granada, Murcia, Valencia, and Catalonia; 
most of them are remnants of Moorish industry. Irrigation is of the highest im- 
portance in Spain, and has been carried to a great extent in Valencia, Catalonia, 
and Granada, where springs, streams, and rainwater, are collected into enormous 
cisterns, called pantanos, from which they are distributed over all the districts which 
need watering. 

The Spaniards are not wanting in skill for the useful arts ; but they dislike to de- 
vote themselves to any kind of trade, which they think beneath their dignity, and a 
Spanish hidalgo Avould much rather beg his bread than procure it by devoting him- 
self to any useful labor. The inhabitants of Catalonia, Valencia, and Galicia, alone 
are distinguished from the rest of their countrymen by activity and industry. Still 
there might be enough of tradesmen to supply the home consumption, but their 
work is so ill done and dear, that all finer articles are imported from Great Britain and 
France. The manufactures of Spain have been ruined by war; many have been 
entirely annihilated, and others are in a very languid state, as their produce was 
especially calculated for the colonies, of which the market is now closed to Spain. 
Most of the manufactures in Spain have been established by joint-stock companies, 
which shows how poor individuals are in a kingdom which so long enjoyed the ex- 
clusive possession of the new world. 

No country in Europe equals Spain in natural commercial advantages, whether we 
consider its situation or facilities of produce. Its situation renders an intercourse with 
all parts of Europe extremely easy, and its intercourse with America and Africa is 
carried on by a shorter and more direct course than that of any other nation. Its 
ports are numerous and commodious; and its inhabitants, accustomed to a warm 
climate, visit the tropical regions with more safety than the inhabitants of colder 



204 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

climates, and yet it is behind every other country of Europe in point of commercial 
importance. 

It is difficult to estimate the state of the population of Spain. According to 
Monaco, they amounted in 1826 to 13,732,176 souls. This number has, however, 
varied very much since that period. 

Madrid. — The capital of New Castile and of Spain, and now also of the province 
of Madrid, stands on a range of small hills rising in the middle of the extensive plain 
of New Castile, which is bounded on the north by the mountains of Guadarrama, and 
on the south by those of Toledo, in 40° 24' 18" north latitude, and 3° 42' west long- 
itude of Greenwich. Madrid is supposed to occupy the site of the Mantua Car- 
petanorum of the Romans, which was called Majoritum by the Goths, whence its 
present name Madrid is derived. Some antiquarians contend that it was so called 
by the Spanish Arabs, in whose language the word Magerit meant " a well-aired 
house." 

During the occupation of the peninsula by the Arabs the place served as a frontier 
town, and its castle was often taken from the Arabs and retaken by them until 1086, 
when it was finally taken by Alphonso VI., the conqueror of Toledo, who annexed 
it to the bishopric of Toledo, to which it now belongs. It continued to be a mere 
village until the reign of Henry III. of Castile, who, being passionately fond of 
hunting the wild boar and the bear, both which animals were then abundant in the 
mountains near Madrid, made the place his residence during. the hunting-season. 
Charles V. occasionally lived in it, and it was at last made the capital of the Spanish 
dominions by his son Philip II., in opposition to the opinion of his ministers, who 
strongly advised him to fix his court at Lisbon. 

Madrid is more than two thousand English feet above the level of the sea, a cir- 
cumstance which accounts for the coldness of its winters. In summer the heat is 
excessive, in some measure owing to the want of trees in the neighborhood. The 
thermometer in 1837 rose to one hundred and seventeen degrees of Fahrenheit in 
the open air. In winter the same thermometer sometimes descends as low as 
eighteen degrees. 

Madrid is on the left bank of the Manzanares, a small rivulet which has its rise 
in the mountains of Guadarrama, about thirty-six miles from the capital, and which, 
after flowing under the walls of Madrid, joins the Xarama, a considerable stream, 
at some distance from the capital. Two majestic bridges, called Puente de Toledo 
and Puente de Segovia, are thrown over the Manzanares ; but such is the contrast 
between the imposing grandeur of these bridges and the scanty stream which flows 
beneath them, that it has given rise to the witty saying " that the kings of Spain 
ought to sell the bridges, and purchase water with the money." In winter, however, 
the heavy rains, and in spring the sudden melting of the snow on the neighboring 
mountains, sometimes swell the Manzanares into an impetuous torrent. 

Madrid is surrounded by a brick wall twenty feet high, which contains fifteen 
gates, mostly built of coarse gray granite. Among these the gate of Alcala and that 
of San Vicente, built in the reign of Charles III., and that of Toledo, erected in the 
reign of Ferdinand VII., are characterized by purity of design and solidity of structure. 
During the present civil war, some slight fortifications have been erected on the prin- 
cipal points leading to the city. 

The general aspect of Madrid from all the approaches is anything but inviting. 
The numerous fantastic spires of churches and convents, the tiled roofs of the houses, 
the sterility of the neighborhood, and the total absence of good houses, pleasure- 
gardens, or other buildings which indicate the approach to a great city, give to the 
capital of Spain the gloomy and forbidding appearance. 

The interior, however, is not devoid of beauty. The wide and well-paved streets, 
the extensive and well-planted public promenades in and near the city, with the 
fountains in many of the squares, the gorgeous churches, and handsome buildings, 
remind the traveller that he is in the capital of Philip II. The houses are well 
constructed : the foundations and some of the ornamental parts are of granite, and 
the rest of red brick, stuccoed and generally painted. Each house is four or five, and 
frequently six stories high, and contains, as in Paris, several families. The principal 
streets, with few exceptions, are moderately wide and handsome : that of Alcala, for 
instance, is wider than Portland-place in London, and contains many splendid build- 
ings. The Calle Mayor, Carrera de San Geronimo, Calle de Atocha, &c., would be 
ornaments to any capital ; the rest of the streets are generally narrow and crooked. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAIN. 



205 




I 



!>iiii;h|!i| 






m 

I Mil' 



206 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



There are forty-two squares, of which the principal are — tliat of the Royal Palace ; 
that of Santa Catalina, where a beautiful bronze statue of Cervantes has been lately 
placed ; the Puerta del Sol, where the five principal streets of Madrid meet, and 
which is a place of resort both for the idle and the busy, being the spot where, owing 
to the proximity of the Exchange, or Bolsa, all commercial transactions are con- 
ducted in the open air ; the Plaza de la Cevada, where criminals were formerly exe- 
cuted ; and lastly, the Plaza Mayor, which is the finest of all. This square is now 
used as the rallying-point for the garrison of Madrid in case of alarm, on account of 
the strength and solidity of the buildings and the difficulty of approaching it through 
the narrow crooked streets. Its form is quadrilateral, four hundred and thirty-four 
feet by three hundred and thirty-four, and it is surrounded with stone buildings six 
stories high, ornamented with pillars of gray granite, which form a fine piazza all 
round. 

The population of Madrid, as to which no official returns have been published since 
1807, was stated by Minano to be 201,344 in 1826, but this number is generally sup- 
posed to be too great for that time, although it may at present be nearly correct. 
The circumference at Madrid is not above five miles ; and there are no suburbs. 




The Eoyal Palace of Madrid. 

The royal palace of Madrid, though unfinished, is one of the finest royal residences 
in Europe. The interior is decorated in a style of costly magnificence. It stands on 
the site of the old Alcazar, or palace, inhabited by Philip II., which was burnt to the 
ground in 1734. Philip V. began the building, which was continued by his succes- 
sors. It has four fronts, four hundred and seventy feet in length, and one hundred 
feet high. The customhouse, a noble building, erected by Charles III., to whom 
Madrid is chiefly indebted for its embellishments ; the Casa de Correos (postoffice) 
in the Puerta del Sol ; the palace called de Buena Vista, formerly belonging to the 
dukes of Alba, now converted into an artillery museum ; the royal printingoffice, in 
the street of Carretas, and the palace of the duke of Berwick, are among the public 
and private buildings which adorn the capital. Among the numerous churches and 
convents which fill the streets of Madrid, scarcely one can be mentioned as a speci- 
men of a pure style of architecture. That of San Isidro, formerly belonging to the 
Jesuits, has a very fine portal ; the convent of the Saleras, founded by Ferdinand YI. 
and his wife Barbara, is likewise a fine building, and the interior of the church is 
ornamented with the richest marbles. The convent of San Francesco el Grande, 
built in 1777, is justly admired for the severity and correctness of the design, its 
beautiful proportions, and a dome built in imitation of that of Saint Peter's at Rome. 

There are sixty-seven churches in Madrid, exclusive of private chapels. Before 
the year 1834 there were sixty-six convents, thirty-four for men and thirty-two for 
women. Some of them have been recently pulled down, either to widen the streets 
or to form squares ; others have been converted into barracks, hospitals, magazines, 
and government offices. 

Public promenades abound in Madrid. That which is most resorted to is the 
Prado, which consists of various alleys lined with double rows of trees, and orna- 
mented with beautiful marble fountains. Adjoining to it is the Retire, an extensive 
and beautiful garden. The garden suffered greatly, both from friends and foes, dur- 
ing the peninsular war, but was restored by the late king, who added to it an ex- 
tensive menagerie. Another favorite promenade is a vast plantation outside the 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAIN. 207 

gate of Atocha, called Las Delicias, leading to a canal known by the name of Canal 
de Manzanares. This canal which extends only six miles from Madrid, was intended 
to unite the capital with the river Tajo at Toledo, by means of the Xarama. 

The literary and scientific establishments are generally of old date, and insufficient 
to meet the v/ants of the present day. Minano mentions one hundred and si:;ty-six 
primary schools as existing in 1826, besides two colleges, both conducted by ecclesi- 
astics. This number, however, has recently diminished. There are two extensive 
libraries open to the public ; one founded by Philip V. in 1712, which contains one 
hundred and fifty thousand volumes, besides a very large collection of manuscripts, 
chiefly Greek, which have been described by J, Iriarte, and a museum of medals and 
antiquities. The library of San Isidro belonged formerly to the Jesuits. Both have 
been considerably increased of late by the addition of the libraries of the suppressed 
convents within the capital. There are also four academies: 1. "La Academia de 
la Lengua," founded in 1724, in imitation of the Academie Franpaise, confi.nes its 
labors to the publication of Avorks in the Spanish language, such as grammars and 
dictionaries, and to editions of the best Spanish writers. 2. The Academy of History 
originated in a society of individuals whose first object was the preservation of 
historical records. It was confirmed by Philip V., who, in 1738, granted the present 
statutes. The labors of this body have been far more useful than those of its sister 
institution : and the nine volumes in quarto already published by them form a 
valuable addition to the history of Spain. 3. The Academy of the Fine Arts, instituted 
in 1738, holds weekly meetings at its rooms in the street of Alcala, but it has hitherto 
done little or nothing : lastly, the Academy of Medicine. A fine botanical garden, 
well stocked with exotic plants, forms a delightful spot in the spring, when it is 
much frequented : attached to the establishment are various professions, who lecture 
upon botany, agriculture, and geology. The museum of Natural History, in the 
Calle de Alcala, is not worthy of the praise bestowed upon it by travellers : it cer- 
tainly contains a splendid collection of minerals from the Spanish dominions in 
America, but they are badly arranged and worse kept. It contains, however, the 
interesting skeleton of the megatherium described by Cuvier. 

Along the east side of the prado is the national gallery, a noble building of colossal 
dimensions, with a beautiful Tuscan portico and Doric colonnades. The collection 
of paintings which it contains has been lately pronounced by competent judges to 
possess a greater number of good pictures, with fewer bad ones, than any other gal- 
lery in Europe. The Armory, a fine building of the time of Philip II., contains some 
of the most beautiful specimens of armor in Europe, especially of the Cinque Cento, 
or the fine times of Benvenuto Cellini. There are several complete suits of armor, 
which formerly belonged to Ferdinand V., Charles V., the Great Captain, John of 
Austria, Garcia de Paredes, and other illustrious Spaniards. The most interesting 
of all perhaps is a coat of mail with the name and the arms of Isabella upon it, 
which she is said to have worn in her campaigns against the Moors. An account 
of 'this collection, with drawings of the best pieces of armor, is now in course of 
publication. 

Madrid has two small theatres, " La Cruz" and "Principe," both managed by the 
AyuniamieiUo, or municipal corporation, where Italian operas and Spanish plays 
are alieroately acted. Another, of much larger dimensions, called the " Teatr'o de 
Orienie," has been lately built in the centre of the square opposite to the royal palace, 
but is still unfinished for want of funds. 

The inhabitants of Madrid repair, every Monday during the season, to a vast 
ampliitheatre outside of the gate of Alcala, where the favorite spectacle of bullfights 
is exhibited. 

The police of Madrid is not good. The streets are generally dirty, and the ap- 
proaches to the city sometimes blocked up by heaps of rubbish. The city has no 
common sewers. Notwithstanding the great number of fountains, the want of good 
water is severely fell in summer. The city itself is considered to be extremely un- 
healthy ; and if Philip II. chose it for his residence on account of the purity of the 
air and the quality of its waters, as we are told, Madrid must have undergone a 
complete change since that time. The sharp winds which blow from theGuadarrama 
mountains in winter produce the endemic pulmonia or pneumonia,. which often proves 
fatal in a few hours. A sort of colic, caused by the dryness of the atmosphere, is 
likewise a prevalent complaint in summer. 

Charitable and benevolent institutions are numerous, and some are amply provided 



208 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

with funds; but the management having always been in the hands of the clergy, 
the funds have been spent in building nnonasteries and churches, rather than applied 
to the charitable purposes intended by the donors. An institution, supported by 
voluntary contributions and patronized by the government, has recenily been estab- 
lished outside of the city, for the reception of beggars, who were formerly objects of 
horror and disgust in the streets of Madrid. 

Madrid has littlemanufacturing industry. A manufacture of porcelain and another 
of tapestry are both the property of the crown. 

Badajoz is situated on an eminence, which, gradually sloping upward from the 
plain, terminates rather precipitously at the castle. This hill terminates the range of 
the mountains of Toledo, although separated from the chain by the " dark Guadi- 
ana," whose waters flow beneath the city walls." Fort St. Christobal, a strong fort 
on the Portuguese side of the river, and completely commanding the town, is, more 
properly speaking, the last of the Toledo mountains, as the eminence on which the 
city stands does not deserve so dignified a name. Eadajoz is completely surrounded 
on three sides by a vast plain, and on the fourth by the river. This plain was once 
covered with the vine and the olive, and the picturesque Casas del Campo of the 
more wealthy inhabitants ; but now it presents but a wide ^nd dreary desert ; war, 
with its desolating blasts, has swept cultivation from the soil, has converted the 
sickle into the sword, and the ploughshare into a spear. 

The bridge of Badajoz is a beautiful piece of Roman architecture, and its perfect 
and solid masonry attests the greatness of that surprising people, in their works 
of art. Much is added to its appearance by the Tete de Pont, on the Campo si-de, 
and the fine towers of the Puerta de los Palmas, on the city side. In the centre, a 
fountain of living water casts its refreshing showers high into the sultry air, and the 
beauty of the prospect on every hand renders the Ponte de Badajoz a pleasant prom- 
enade for the fair or idle. The river beneath is so shallow in the summer months 
as to be fordable almost at every part ; but in the winter it becomes a mighty stream, 
pouring its waters along with resistless rapidity, and entirely filling the wide chan- 
nel cut in the loose soil by its ceaseless flow. Navigation, therefore, is not to be 
thought of, and the only vessels to be seen are a few small boats for pleasure or for 
fishing. 

The Palmer's gate is well worthy of notice, on account of its extreme beauty ; 
the two round towers which stand on either hand are perfectly symmetrical ; and 
the golden hue of age thrown over the white marble of which they are built, by the 
fine, pure atmosphere of a southern climate, increases the beauty of their appear- 
ance by lending the charms of color to those of form. This gate, which is also 
Roman, was repaired by Philip II., the husband of Queen Mary, of England, in the 
year 1551, as appears by the inscription, since which time the hand of the workman 
has not touched it. The bridge, however, of which this gate forms the terminntion, 
has been thoroughly repaired and paved. The interior of the town presents nothing 
remarkable, although extremely clean without the aid of whitewash, so much used 
in Portugal to give an air of cleanliness to the antiquated and miserable streets. 
The houses are, for the most part, large and comraoditius, and the inn, or Fonda de 
los Cuatra Naciones, is superlative in its accommodation and comfort ; indeed, it is 
surprising to find so splendid an establishment in Badajoz, after becoming accustomed 
to the wretched, comfortless, and dirty inns, hotels, hospederios, or whatever they 
may call them, in Portugal. The market-place near the castle is a fine square, and 
contains the government offices, &c. ; the buildings are extremely picturesque, and 
are overlooked by some old towers and ruins, forming an interesting background. 
The street which leads from this place to the cathedral is filled Avith the houses of 
the gentry, and its termination forms the Rambla, or public walk, where the belles 
of the place display themselves in the evening air. The cathedral, whose Gothic 
arches and massive towers overlook this promenade, is a plain and ugly building 
externally, but every art and expense have been lavished, to render its interior mag- 
nificent and glittering. The numerous chapels which surround its broad and gloomy 
aisles, are covered with carvings and gilt-work ; the altars are enriched by embroid- 
ery of the most costly workmanship, and resplendent with silver candlesticks and 
wax candles, kept constantly lighted ; and the grand altar displays all the art and 
splendor of the catholic worship. 

Barcelona is a regularly-fortified city, with a citadel and detached fort, and, nexl 
to Elvas, is, perhaps, one of the strongest fortifications in the peninsula. Tlie cita- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAIN. 



209 




210 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

del, which is situated on the side next the plain, is a perfect model of its kind. It 
consists of a fortified heptagon, with ravelins and cavaliers ; the bastions have re- 
tired orillon flanks; the tower which stands near the ramparts is singularly beauti- 
ful, and forms a cross, with an open lantern on the top. This tower, combined with 
the domes of the governor's house and the barracks in the square, gives a graceful 
and pleasing appearance to an object, at the best of an uninteresting character, ex- 
cept to the scientific observer. The esplanade, in front of the citadel, and within 
the city wslls, forms a pleasant walk during the delightful summer evenings. It is 
traversed by a quadruple row of stately elms, whose thick foliage forms a grateful 
protection from the heat of the sun, which in the summer is excessive.. The centre 
is ornamented by grottoes and by fountains, whose refreshing showers tend still fur- 
ther to cool the air, and though the sculptures do not exhibit the perfections of classic 
art, they are sufficiently well executed to be agreeable and pleasing ornaments to the 
walk. The public garden is situated at one end of the esplanade ; it is neither ex- 
tensive nor beautiful, but contains a large collection of small singing-birds. As all 
executions take place in the esplanade, it is not much frequented by the inhabitants, 
and the Rambla, though neither possessed of fountains nor so many trees, is pre- 
ferred by them. This promenade is situated in the heart of the city, and divides it 
into two unequal parts. The market is held at one end, while the other is reserved 
for the display of fashion and beauty. The excessive heat in the summer prevents 
the indulgence of the exercise of walking in the daytime, but the Rambla is 
crowded in the evening. The opera-house also is situated in this walk ; and as all 
the wealthy families have a box of their own, they pass the evening between the 
theatre and the Rambla ; the purity of the atmosphere and mildness of the night air 
prevents their experiencing any injurious consequences arising from the transition 
from the heated opera-house to the open air, even when only protected by the addi- 
tion of a mantilla, or lace veil, thrown gracefully over the head and shoulders of the 
ladies. The Rambla also contains many houses of refreshment, to which the ladies 
resort in order to partake of ices, sweetmeats, or coffee, &c. Let no one be sur- 
prised at this: inebriety is a vice unknown among the Spanish gentlemen and, 
indeed, among all classes ; the temperate Spaniard, though living in a wine country 
and thirsty climate, rarely slakes his thirst, except at meal-time, with anything but 
water, flavored with the milk of almonds and a little sugar. Such being the gen- 
eral habits of the people, ladies may enter these places without being afraid of wit- 
nessing any impropriety in the conduct of the company assembled. 

The building of the Casa de Lonja is extremely handsome, and is a fine specimen 
of the Doric order ; the staircase is truly magnificent, each step being composed of 
one large slab of marble, and each landing-place of only two. The upper part of 
the building is entirely devoted to education ; and class-rooms are established for the 
study of design, the classics, the English, French, Italian, and German languages, 
writing, and mathematics ; in short, every branch of a liberal education. The Casa 
de Lonja stands in the great square, or Plaza del Palacio. The entrance to Barce- 
lona by this square is exceedingly fine : the customhouse, built entirely of white 
marble, and covered with ornament, the ducal palace, the beautiful palaces of the 
nobility, the exchange, and the varied style of domestic architecture, with the fine 
towers of the old church of " Our Lady of the Sea," are all objects of admiration 
to a stranger. The palace represented in our engraving is less interesting as a work 
of art than for its historical associations. It was from the windows in the corner 
that Philip V, acknowledged the rights and privileges of the Catalans after he had 
gained possession of the smoking ruins of their capital ; it was here that Ferdinand 
halted on his way to Bayonne ; it was here that the constitution was proclaimed in 
1812 ; it was here that Colonel Bassa met his fate ; and it was here that General 
Mina, the great Guerrilla chief, witnessed the proclamation of the constitution in 
1836, and here, also, that he breathed his last. The circumstance of Mina's having 
lived and died in this palace, is sufficient to give interest to the spot, for though his 
character as a man may be charged with cruelty and severity, it can not be denied 
that the peculiar organization of the Guerrilla bands, their persevering courage and 
devoted patriotism, may be traced to his effective and incessant exertions. 

The college and church of Belem are also situated in the Rambla, as well as the 
convent of Santa Clara. This building is now, like most of the monastic edifices, 
converted into a barrack, and is occupied by a battalion of the national guard. The 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE— SPAIN. 



211 




212 CENES AND SKETCHES IN 

college was for a long time closed, except to persons educating for the church, gen- 
eral education being discouraged. The present government have more enlightened 
views, and consider education a national benefit ; they have therefore again opened 
the colleges to all classes of persons. Besides the college of Belem, there is a mer- 
cantile establishment at the Casa de Lonja, or exchange; this establishment was 
founded by the merchants of Barcelona, for the improvement and education of per- 
sons connected with commerce or the arts. The school of design, chiefly for mer- 
cantile purposes, is Avell calculated to improve trade by introducing taste and 
elegance into every branch, while, by cultivating native talent, a premium is offered 
for improvement. The school of design is lighted by gas, the only establishment 
which has attained to that improved method of lighting, the theatres and all other 
public places being illuminated with wax candles or oil, as in England some years 
back. 

The fortifications of Barcelona on this side are incomplete, but workmen are now 
actively employed in their erection. It is purposed to form an entrance into the 
square by two splendid gates, whose majestic appearance will considerably heighten 
the effect. The quays which run around the entire harbor are magnificent, and the 
mole on which the lighthouses are erected is a work of herculean magnitude; in- 
deed, the entire effect of the entrance to Barcelona from the sea is strikingly beauti- 
ful ; the caslle-crowned Monjuic, the harbor, the city, and the surrounding country, 
are of the most pleasing character. The position of Barcelona is extremely fine : it 
lies at the foot of a steep and strongly-fortified hill, on the shores of a small bay of 
the Mediterranean, and surrounded at a little distance by a semicircle of beautiful 
and picturesque hills, which close it in on every side. The country around is crowded 
by the quintas, or country-houses, of the gentry, and covered with their gardens and 
orchards ; numbers of fine convents enliven, with their white walls and belfries, the 
slopes of the hills, and some of the highest peaks are crowned by religious edifices 
of various dimensions and for various purposes. Convents, monasteries, nunneries, 
and hermitages, are scattered over the face of the country in every direction, and in 
the most conspicuous situations ; some overhanging vast precipices, others crowning 
almost inaccessible mountains, others almost buried in the valleys, yet all uniting to 
excite the surprise or admiration of the traveller. 

The church of Santa Maria del Mar, or our Lady of the Sea, the back of which 
is seen in our engraving, is one of the principal in the city of Barcelona, after the 
cathedral. It stands in a small square, leading out of the Plaza del Palapio ; arid 
though, like most of the churches in this part of the peninsula, it possesses little 
external beauty, it has a solemnity of aspect which commands attention. The front 
consists of two towers, the space between being occupied by the doorway and a cir- 
cular window. The lightness and beauty of the towers are remarkable. They are 
octagonal, extremely plain till they rise above the body of the building, when they 
become arched, having a pointed window in each face. There are two stories thus 
arched, and a lantern of the same character, but of smaller dimensions, crowns the 
whole. Only one of the towers is finished, the other being surmounted by an iron 
framework, which supports two small bells. The body of the building is an oblong, 
rounded at one end, somewhat of the figure of a tombstone, and not cruciform, as 
most of the catholic churches are ; while another peculiarity is, that the front faces 
the south. The want of ornament on the exterior is amply compensated within; 
and though stripped of much of its splendor in the decorations of the varioustchap- 
els and altars, it retains enough to impress the visiter with the pomp and magnifi- 
cence displayed in the Roman ritual. The arched roof is supported upon a double 
row of octagonal columns, and it is surprising how pillars of so small a diameter 
should be able to support such an immense mass of roof. The principal altar, 
which occupies the half circle, was once of silver, and richly carved ; but the devas- 
tating wars, which have nearly ruined the country, have not spared the shrines of 
religion. All that could conveniently be removed, has either been carried off by the 
rapacity of the military, or been buried in the earth for a chance of safety. Enough, 
however, remains, to give some idea of the form of this altar. It was triangular, 
rising from the floor to the roof in a succession of steps, which, on the great festi- 
vals of the church, were crowded with silver candlesticks, bearing wax candles, 
and decorated with flowers,' Sec. The table itself is covered with white or crimson 
satin, according to the ceremonies to be performed, embroidered with gold in the 
most costly manner. It has been stated by the monks of the collegiate church of 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAIN. 



213 




214 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Estretnoz, in Portugal, that the embroidery of the front alone of the great altar cost 
them fifteen thousand dollars, and the other decorations are proportionately expen 
sive. The robes, also, of the officiating priest are embroidered in the most profuse 
manner, and are made of a silk of extraordinary thickness. 

Behind this church, the street leading to the Esplanade is occupied by a market 
for all descriptions of goods. As in all fortified towns, the streets of Barcelona are 
narrow and confined ; the height of the houses on either side obstructing the light, 
gives them rather a gloomy appearance ; the shops, likewise, have a sombre look ; 
the goods are not exposed in windows, whose immense squares of glass cost as much 
as the stock within ; neither do we find them " selling off' at immense sacrifices ;" 
but a well-assorted display, particularly of jewelry, is exposed on eai^h side of tlie 
doorway, in neat frames, with glass doors. ' The street leading from Santa Maria to 
the cathedral is occupied almost entirely by jewelers and gold-workers; and a neat 
device is painted over each door, to invite an inspection of the goods within. Before 
arriving at the cathedral, however, we come to the convent of Santa Clara, in which 
there is little remarkable but the beauliful tower, formed of a succession of arched 
galleries, one above the other, to the top ; and the view of the city, the harbor, and 
the sea, as seen from them, is truly charming. The convent is connected with the 
cathedral by flying buttresses. One of these was hollow, and contained a concealed 
communication with the church, which has since been filled up. In one of the 
rooms, the large crucifix taken from the now-destroyed buildings of the Inquisition is 
preserved. The figure is as large as life, and painted to imitate nature ; the coun- 
tenance is expressive of the character of the tribunal in which it stood, and resem- 
bles more the features of one of those severe judges who presided at the council, 
than the meekness of the great founder of Christianity. A few heaps of rubbish 
are all that are preserved of that once-dreaded institution. The forms of the cells 
are still visible. They are long and narrow in their proportions, being about eight 
feet long by about four broad. The door is extremely narrow, so much so as to ad- 
mit a person, not absolutely with difficulty, but without any room to spare; and 
no trace whatever of windows or holes, to admit air and light, is discoverable. The 
roofs are broken down, so that it is impossible to sav whether there was or was not 
some method of ventilation ; it may be presumed, however, that there was none, for 
the hall of the inquisitors being immediately above these dungeons, and level with 
the street, it is not likely that they would have their deliberations disturbed by the 
cries or groans of their victims, which must have ascended with awful distinctness, 
had any ventilator been constructed in the roof. 

But let us turn from this unpleasing subject to the cathedral. This fine pile of 
building is still unfinished ; the front is a mere plain wall, with arches painted over 
the door and windows. Near the eastern end are two beautiful towers, richly orna- 
mi'Uted. The figure of this church is the same as that of Santa Maria del Mar, 
bu', it possesses more external ornament; the buttresses are exceedingly graceful 
and ornamental, and the spaces between are occupied by arched windows, of the 
pointed kind. The cloisters, also, are exceedingly beauliful, and contain a fine 
fountain. The interior is remarkably grand ; the massive roof is supported on fluted 
columns of a great height, which divide the church into a nave and two aisles ; the 
choir is in the nave, and formed of mahogany, beautifully carved, and some beauti- 
ful bas-reliefs of the sufferings of the martyrs, in white marble, let into the wood- 
work, give it a peculiar and striking appearance. The grand altar is plain but ele- 
gant, and the organ extremely fine. This church is completely surrounded by chap- 
els or shrines of the different saints, which vie with each other in the splendor and 
gaudiness of their ornaments. There are one or two good altar-pieces in this 
church, though, from the extreme gloominess, all the windoAvs being darkened, they 
are not seen to advantasre. 

The bishop's palace joins the cathedral, and was formerly connected by a gate, the 
towers of which, only remain. In several of the streets, the remains of the Roman 
walls may be traced, though too few and isolated to enable one to determine the ex- 
act size of the ancient city, or even the form. These ruins can only be discovered 
by a close inspection, being, for the most part, covered by or built into the walls of 
the modern houses. The private houses of Barcelona are constructed on the same 
plan as in Scotland — that is, in flats or floors, each floor forming a distinct resi- 
dence ; a common staircase leading up to these different tenements. The rooms are 
generally large and lofty, and totally devoid of the comforts of home. The hand- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAIN. 215 

somely-painted roofs can not supply the want of warmth ; the windows, the doors, 
and indeed every part, admit the wind, not in gentle streams, but in chilling blasts. 
In summer, when the excessive heat renders this coolness desirable, the houses are 
not unpleasant ; but in winter, when the mornings and evenings are extremely cold, 
a little more attention to the fitting of joints would be desirable, particularly as they 
have no coal to create a sufficient artificial heat. The country-towns are worse, in 
this respect than the large cities, as, except in the houses of the wealthy, glass is not 
used. The windows are supplied with clumsy wooden shutters, with a smaller one 
in the centre, so that the light shall not be completely excluded when the window is 
closed. Charcoal and wood are the only fuel ; the former is burned in a brass basin, 
inserted into a large wooden frame, and elevated about a foot from the floor, which 
is invariably of tiles. The inhabitants sit round these warming-pans, or brazieras, 
as they are called, with their feet on the wooden frame. The gas arising from the 
charcoal is extremely injurious, and causes violent pains in the head, and difficulty 
of respiration ; so that, to enjoy this comfort without danger, the door, at least, must 
be opened. As we have before remarked of Portugal, the houses are built, for the 
most part, on the old Moorish plan, with flat roofs, or verandas, as they are called. 
The outsides are also finely ornamented with paintings in fresco, or figures executed 
in the plaster with which they are faced. The effect of this latter mode is pleasing 
in the extreme ; the groundwork is wrought with rough-cast, and the figures laid on 
smoothly, being outlined with lines, and shaded in the same manner. The entrances 
to Barcelona are extremely fine ; the roads are good, and shaded by fine trees, with 
fountains occurring occasionally. The fondness of the Spaniards for fountains is 
doubtless a relic of Moorish manners, and these erections are often dedicated to some 
saint, whose image is affixed in a niche, before which, near a town, a lamp is kept 
burning at night. 

Besides the buildings we have mentioned, there are others worthy of note, one of 
which is the hospital. There are two hospitals for the sick in Barcelona ; one is en- 
tirely devoted to military patients, the other to all persons born in the city. Found- 
lings, as at Bel em in Portugal, are also received and educated ; and the females, when of 
age, are paraded through the streets once a year, when any person taking a fancy to 
one of them, throws a handkerchief to her, which she preserves till the owner calls 
at the hospital. Here he has to produce certificates of his respectability, and ability 
to support a wife, when the bride is produced, the dowry paid, and the happy couple 
married on the spot. No disgrace whatever is attached to marriages of this kind ; 
on the contrary, the nobles, proud as they are deemed, frequently condescend thus to 
select a partner for life. Besides the establishment for foundlings, the hospital con- 
tains every convenience for the sick, an asylum for lunatics, and a daily allowance 
of provisions for the poor. This immense establishment is entirely supported by 
voluntary donations. 

CoRTJNNA is a seaport town of Spain, in the province of Gallicia. It is situated on 
a peninsula, at the entrance of the bay of Betanzos. The town is divided into the 
upper and lower town. The former, which lies on the declivity of a hill, is sur- 
rounded by a wall, and defended by a citadel. The harbor is large and secure : it 
is in the form of a crescent, and is provided with a handsome quay. The entrance 
is protected by the two castles of St. Martin and Santa Cruz, and also by two strong 
forts, one of which is placed on a rock which commands the port, and part of the 
road. 

On the 16th of January, 1809, the retreating British army, under Sir John Moore, 
was attacked by the French under General Soult, near Corunna. The action was 
obstinate, but the British succeeded in driving back the enemy. We add a full ac- 
count of this celebrated battle, as it formed an era of considerable importance in the 
Spanish war. 

General Laborde's division being come up, the French force could not be less than 
20,000 men ; and the duke of Dalmatia, having made his arrangements, did not lose 
any time in idle evolutions, but, distributing his lighter guns along the front of his 
position, opened a heavy fire from the battery on his left, and instantly descended 
with three solid masses to the assault. A cloud of skirmishers led the way, and the 
British pickets being driven back in disorder, the village of Elvina was carried by 
the first column, which afterward dividing, one half pushed on against Baird's front, 
the other turned his right by the valley. The second column made for the centre. 
The third engaged the left by the village of Palavia Abaxo. The weight of the 



216 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




Plan of the Battle of Cornnna. 



French guns overmatched the English six-pounders, and their shot swept the position 
to the centre. 

Sir John Moore, observing that, according to his expectations, the enemy did not 
show anybody of infantry beyond that which, moving up the valley, outflanked 
Baird's right, ordered General Paget to carry the reserve to where the detached regi- 
ment was posted, and, as he had before arranged with him, to turn the left of the 
French attack, and menace the great battery. Then directing Frazer's division to 
support Paget, he threw back the fourth regiment, which formed tlie right of Baird's 
division, opened a heavy fire upon the flank of the troops penetrating up the valley, 
and with the fiftieth and forty-second regiments met those breaking through Elvina. 

The ground about that village was intersected by stone walls and hollow roads ; 
a severe, scrambling fight ensued, but in half an hour the French were borne back 
with great loss. The fiftieth regiment entered the village with them, and, after a 
second struggle, drove them for some distance beyond it. Meanwhile the general, 
bringing up a battalion of the brigade of guards to fill the space in the line left va- 
cant by those two regiments, the forty-second mistook his intention, and retired, and 
at that moment the enemy, being reinforced, renewed the fight beyond the village, 
the officer commanding the fiftieth was wounded and taken prisoner, and Elvina 
became the scene of a second struggle ; this being observed by the commander-in- 
chief, who directed in person the operations of Baird's division, he addressed a few 
animating words to the forty-second, and caused it to return to the attack. General 
Paget, with the reserve, now descended into the valley, and the line of skirmishers 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAIN. 217 

being thus supported, vigorously checked the advance of the enemy's troops in that 
quarter, while the fourth regiment galled their flank. At the same time the centre 
and left of the army also became engaged : Sir David Baird was severely wounded, 
and a furious action ensued along the line, in the valley, and on the hills. Sir John 
Moore, while earnestly watching the result of the fight about the village of Elvina, 
was mortally wounded on the left breast by a cannon shot, from the eflFects of which 
he expired before the battle was concluded. 

During this time the army was rapidly gaining ground. The reserve, overthrow- 
ing everything in the valley, and obliging La Houssaye's dragoons (who had dis- 
mounted) to retire, turned the enemy's left, and even approached the eminence on 
which the great battery was posted. On the left, Colonel NichoUs, at the head of 
some companies of the fourteenth, carried Palavia Abaxo (which General Foy de- 
fended but feebly), and in the centre the obstinate dispute for Elvina terminated in 
favor of the British, so thai when the night set in their line was considerable ad- 
vanced beyond the original position of the morning, and the French were falling back 
in confusion. The disorder into which the French were thrown offered a very ftivor- 
able opportunity for embarking, which was the original plan, and which was by Sir 
John Hope, on whom the command of the army had devolved, deemed prudent to 
effect without delay, the arrangements being so complete that neither confusion 
nor difficulty occurred. The English got on board the ships with little or no in- 
terruption, and thus ended the retreat to Corunna, but with the loss of their com- 
manders. 

" Sir John Moore," says Colonel Napier, in his history of the peninsular war, pub- 
lished by J. S. Redfield, New York, "while earnestly watching the result of the 
fight about the village of Elvina, was struck on the left breast by a cannon shot; 
the shock threw him from his horse with violence ; he rose again in a sitting posture ; 
his countenance unchanged, and his steadfast eye still fixed upon the regiments 
engaged in his front ; no sigh betrayed a sensation of pain ; but, in a few moments, 
when he was satisfied that the troops were gaining ground, his countenance brighten- 
ed, and he suffered himself to be taken to the rear. Then was seen the dreadful 
nature of his hurt ; the shoulder was shattered to pieces, the arm was hanging by a 
piece of skin, the ribs over the heart broken and bared of flesh, and the muscles of 
the breast torn into long strips, which were interlaced by their recoil from the drag- 
ging of the shot. As the soldiers placed him in a blanket his sword got entangled, 
and the hilt entered the wound. Captain Hardinge, a staff officer, who was near, 
attempted to take it off, but the dying man stopped him, saying, ' It is as well as it 
is. I had rather it should go out of the field with me.' And in that manner, so 
becoming a soldier, Moore was borne from the fight. * * * The blood flowed fast, 
and the torture of his wound increased ; but such was the unshaken firmness of his 
mind, that those about him, judging from the resolution of his countenance that his 
hurt was not mortal, expressed a hope of his recovery. Hearing this, he looked 
steadfastly at the injury for a moment, and then said, ' No ; I feel that to be impos- 
sible.' Several times he caused his attendants to stop and turn him round, that he 
might behold the field of battle; and when the firing indicated the advance of the 
British, he discovered his satisfaction, and permitted the bearers to proceed. Being 
brought to his lodgings the surgeons examined his wound, but there was no hope ; 
the pain increased, and he spoke with great difficulty. At intervals he asked if the 
French were beaten, and, addressing his old friend Colonel Anderson, he said, ' You 
know that I always wished to die this way.' Again he asked if the enemy were 
defeated, and being told they were, observed, ' It is a great satisfaction to me to 
know we have beaten the French.' His countenance continued firm, and his thoughts 
clear ; once only when he spoke of his mother, he became agitated. He inquired 
after the safety of his friends and the officers of his staff"; and he did not even in this 
moment forget to recommend those whose merit had given them claims to promo- 
tion. His strength was failing fast, and life was just extinct, when, with an un- 
subdued spirit, as if anticipating the baseness of his posthumous calumniators, he 
exclaimed, ' I hope the people of England will be satisfied. I hope my country will 
do me justice.' The battle was scarcely ended when his corpse, wrapped in a 
military cloak, w^as interred by the officers of his staff in the citadel of Corunna. 
The guns of the enemy paid his funeral honors, and Soult, with a noble feeling of 
respect for his valor, raised a monument to his memory." 

The death of Sir John Moore has furnished the subject of a poem of extraordinary 



218 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

beauty, the author of which was long unknown. It is now ascertained to be the 
production of one whose compositions were few, and who died young — Wolfe: — 

" Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, 
As his corse to the rampart ■we hurried ; 
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot 
O'er the grave where our hero we buried. 

" We buried him darkly at dead of night. 
The sods with our bayonets turning, 
By the struggling moonbeam's misty light, 
And the lantern dimly burning. 

" No useless cofBn enclosed his breast, 

Not in sheet or in shroud we wound him ; 
But he lay like a warrior taking his rest, 
With his martial cloak around him. 

" Few and short were the prayers we said. 
And we spoke not a word of sorrow ; 
But we steadfastly gazed on the face that was dead, 
And we bitterly thought of the morrow. 

" We thought, as we hollowed his narrow bed, 
And smoothed down his lonely pillow. 
That the foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head. 
And we far away on the billow ! 

" Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone, 
And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him — 
But little he'll reck, if they let him sleep on 
' In the grave where a Briton has laid him. 

" But half of our heavy task was done. 

When the clock struck the hour for retiring; 
And we beard the distant and random gun 
That the foe was sullenly firing. 

" Slowly and sadly we laid him down, 

From the field of his fame fresh and gory ; 
We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone — 
But we left him alone with his glory !" 

The village of Villa Vellid, in Old Castile, represented in the engraving, is situ- 
ated about half way between Medina de Rio Seco and the city of Toro. It may 
be taken as a fair specimen of the hundreds of similar little villages in this prov- 
ince, and in the southern parts of Leon, all of which bear the same characteristic 
features, being constructed of similar materials, and on the same plan. They con- 
tain usually from one hundred to three hundred, and even four hundred houses ; 
which, according to the Spanish rate of calculation, will give about five times as 
many inhabitants. 

There are no instances, in this part of Spain, of detached farmhouses in the coun- 
try, as in the other provinces, and in this country ; all are collected together in 
groups or villages, at distances of about two or three miles from each other, which 
gives the country, generally, a very monotonous appearance, being quite unbroken 
by any of those picturesque objects so common in most other countries, in the shape 
of trees, houses, and agricultural buildings of various descriptions. The prospect 
shown in the engraving embraces an extent of some forty or fifty miles, yet, on that 
immense plain, only seven or eight trees of any kind can be discovered, if we except 
a small tract of land covered by the short and shrub-like evergreen oak, or " Encina," 
which supplies the inhabitants with charcoal. This want of foliage, together with 
the unbroken nature of the ground, and the mean appearance of the villages, which 
seem (excepting their churches) mere collections of tiled mud-huts, render Castile 
the very reverse of picturesque, and (especially in winter and autumn, when the 
green corn-leaf is unseen) give it the appearance of a desert rather than of a culti- 
vated province. 

The houses are very small, and seldom higher than one story. The interior is 
usually whitewashed, the floor paved with bricks placed sidewise, and the walls or- 
namented with some gaudily-colored French engravings of saints and martyrs ; with 
the addition, now and then, of an " indulgence," purchased from the nearest monas- 
tery, or an ornamented metal crucifix. The one solitary window is very small, and 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAIN. 



219 




220 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

rarely glazed ; having a shutter, or a piece of oiled paper, sometimes fixed to it, to 
keep out the cold wind's of winter. The walls outside retain the natural color of the 
clayey soil of which they are formed, excepting a space of a few feet on each side 
of the door, which is ornamented or disfigured by rude representations of flowers, or 
men painted in red on a whitewashed ground — a remnant of an ancient Moorish cus- 
tom. The walls are formed of huge bricks, or masses of unbaked clay, of nearly 
three feet in length by about twelve to eighteen inches in breadth, and of equal 
depth. They are usually supported within a few feet from the ground by two or 
three layers of large, square stones. At the door, which is usually divided into two 
parts, and thickly studded with large, round-headed nails, are two or three large 
blocks of stone, on which the good women sit down and spin during the greater part 
of the fine days. The narrow streets which divide the rows of houses resemble the 
dry beds of mountain torrents, and in the rainy season the simile might be carried 
much further. The churches form a surprising contrast to their lowly neighbors, 
being strongly-built edifices, with towers of proportionate size ; having always one 
or more bells slung across the windows or apertures near the top, which are pealed 
by being spun around their pivots. The interiors are very neatly finished — often 
highly ornamented ; the altars particularly shine forth in no little splendor, and the 
favorite Virgin, or " Senora," is dressed up at an expense which would probably 
clothe all the inhabitants of the village. 

Villa Vellid contains between four and five hundred inhabitants, and about 
ninety houses ; yet this small and poor population contrives to support two large 
churches and their three attendant clergymen, or " curas ;" and so far are they from 
thinking this expense and establishment exorbitant, that I have very little doubt one 
half of them would think their very salvation compromised by any attempt to re- 
move either one of their churches or its priest. The " curas" are generally frank 
and urbane in their manners ; mixing freely in the sports of their parishioners, and 
joining familiarly in their conversation. Strange as it may sound to an American 
ear, I have seen " curas" regularly join the villagers in a game or two at " calvo" (a 
sort of duckstone) for an hour or so after service on Sunday, and in the evening ad- 
journ to the house of one of the favored, with six or eight companions, to pass the 
rest of the sabbath at cards. 

There are no gay shops exhibiting their wares in the windows or outside the 
doors ; there are only two houses of sale, the tavern and the tobacco-shop, this last 
being a government monopoly. The surgeon officiates also as barber ; he is paid at 
the rate of about a bushel of wheat per annum per family in his first capacity (on 
the condition that he pay a weekly visit, at least, to each), and about half as much 
in the latter, if the folks are shaved at his own house ; should any luxurious inhab- 
itant wish to be shaved at home, he must double his quota of corn. The apothecary, 
a distinct functionary, is remunerated in the same manner, but less munificently, as 
holding an inferior occupation to that of the barber-surgeon. A tailor makes a jour- 
ney regularly, once or twice a year, like a wandering fiddler, through a certain dis- 
trict, and is paid partly by his maintenance, and partly by means of coin ; this arti- 
cle is, however, somewhat scarce, and not often used among these primitive people, 
their transactions being usually conducted on the principle of barter. Many of the 
families are sufficiently affluent to consume chocolate and sugar, which are procured 
at a depot, perhaps eight or ten miles distant. In summer one butcher supplies 
meat for the " puchero" of a dozen neighboring villages ; in winter, they seldom 
consume other animal food than the dried flesh of kids, called " cecina," which is 
excellent, and might be eaten as a dainty where less common. 

Corn and wine are so abundant as to exceed the wants of the inhabitants, but the 
markets for their sale are so distant, and so expensive of access, that it scarcely pays 
to transport to them the superfluous produce ; the natural consequence of which is, 
that the people are in a great measure deprived of other articles of comfort which 
they might receive in exchange for their corn, and exhibit a strange melange of pov- 
erty and affluence ; for instance, groups of men are often met with, basking in the 
sunshine during half the day, in the villages, strong and well-fed, and perhaps even 
then quaffing at intervals their good " vino tinto ;" and at the same time clothed, or 
rather half-clothed, by a cloak transmitted to them from their grandfather, at least, 
and which is so patched up, ragged, and mended again, that no one piece can be 
found in it larger than one's hand. 

The " curas" of the villages possess great influence over their parishioners, and 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAIN. 221 

are generally much respected ; often, as is vouched from experience, men of good 
moral principle, and conducting themselves in a most praiseworthy manner tovirard 
the people of their cure. There are some, no doubt, who make an evil use of their 
unlimited power over the minds of the people, and extort from them, under pretence 
of religious motives, their little wealth, and otherwise abuse the confidence of the 
ignorant and unsuspecting ; but this betrayal of trust is not carried commonly to 
any extent, as too often represented. The monks and friars, who are continually 
visiting these little communities, are by no means so much liked as the secular 
clergy, and bear a reputation much more unfavorable, and more deservedly so. 

The castle represented in the engraving is an old Moorish fortress, perfectly sim- 
ple, and extremely massive in its construction, having only one entrance, a low 
Moorish archway, and a few narrow slits on two sides, for the defenders. It is built 
of a hard kind of stone, cemented and knit together in a very firm and enduring 
manner. It is one of the hundreds that are scattered about this part of Spain, every 
fifth or sixth village being thus now adorned, as it was once protected. 

The cross in the foreground is a speaking witness of the state, or rather the non- 
existence, of efficient police regulations in this misgoverned country. Such are often 
met with on the sides of the roads, in desert or sequestered places; they are the 
only memorials of men found there, at some time or other, dying, or slain by the 
hand of the assassin ; the murderer, perhaps, before the deed be discovered, already 
in some distant province, defies the feeble inquiry and pursuit, which is sometimes 
not even attempted. The charitable inhabitants of the nearest village erect this 
simple monument over his unconsecrated grave ; and what could be devised more 
beautiful and pathetic than its simple epitaph, " Adios, pobre !" which translated, is, 
" Farewell, poor fellow !" 

Alcantara is a small frontier city of great strength in Spanish Estremadura, upon 
the banks of the Tagus. The town was originally built by the Moors, on account 
of the convenience of a fine stone bridge which, as recorded in an inscription over 
one of the arches, was built in the reign of the emperor Trajan by the people of Lu- 
sitania, who were assessed to pay the expenses. It was thus that the Moors gave to 
the town the name of Al-Cantara, which in their language signifies the bridge. This 
bridge is thrown across the river at a place where it flows in a deep channel between 
two high and steep rocks. It is elevated 211 feet 10 inches above the level of the 
water, although it consists but of six arches, is 568 feet in length, and 27 feet 6 inches 
in breadth. Of the six arches, the two in the centre are 94 feet wide. A triumphal 
arch in honor of Trajan rises in the centre, and a mausoleum constructed by the Ro- 
man architect (Lacer) stands at the extremity toward the town. This mausoleum, 
which owes its preservation to the enormous stones with which it is constructed, has 
been changed into a chapel dedicated to St. Julian, and is now an object of venera- 
tion to both the townspeople and peasantry. There is nothing else remarkable about 
the town, except the strong walls, bastions, and other works, with which its situation 
on the borders of Portugal has caused it to be fortified. There are about 3,000 inhab- 
itants, who carry on some trade in wool and cloth. 

When the town was taken from the Moors by Alphonso IX., king of Castile, in 
the year 1212, it was in the first instance committed to the charge of the knights of 
.Calatrava ; but, two years afterward, it was transferred to the knights of St. Julian 
del Parero, or St. Julian of the Pear-tree, an order instituted in 1170, and which soon 
relinquished this odd denomination for that of Alcantara, at the same time assuming 
a green color for the cross fleur-de-lys which they bore over their large white cloaks. 
This was apparently intended for the purpose of a distinction between their order and 
that of Calatrava. When the town of Alcantara was surrendered to the knights of 
the Pear-tree, it was stipulated that there should be a confraternity between the two 
orders, with the same practices and observances in both, and that the Alcantara order 
should be subject to be visited by the grandmaster of Calatrava. The Alcantara 
knights soon, however, became dissatisfied with this engagement, and released them- 
selves from it, on the pretence that their grandmaster had not been called, according 
to one of the stipulations, to the election of the grandmaster of the Calatrava order. 
The knights make a considerable figure in the history of the expedition against the 
Moors, war against them being one of the grounds on which the order was instituted. 
They were, in fact, military monks, under the same vows as the Benedictines. After 
the expulsion of the Moors and the taking of Granada, the sovereignty of both the 
orders of Alcantara and Calatrava was settled upon the crown of Castile, in the reign 



222 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




■%> 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAIN. g2S 

of Ferdinand and Isabella, when the order transferred the town to the general gov- 
ernment. The order of Alcantara was very wealthy. After it had become compara- 
tively poor, it still possessed thirty-three commanderies, four alcaydies, and four pri- 
ories, producing an annual revenue of eighty thousand ducats. It has probably since 
undergone further diminution, but to what extent we are not informed. 



CHAPTER X.— SPAIN. 

Granada, is an extensive maritime province in the south of Spain, nearly two 
hundred miles in length, and varying from forty to seventy in breadth. Its length is 
nearly from east to west, having on the south the Mediterranean, on' the north a part 
of Andalusia ; its southwest extremity approaches Gibraltar. Among the mountains, 
a calcareous soil, in many places unproductive, is prevalent ; but the valleys contain 
a rich and fertile mould. The Vega (orchard) de Granada, where the capital is 
situated, is one of the richest and most delightful spots in the world. This fertility 
is principally owing to the copious streams that flow from the mountains in summer, 
on the melting of the snow. The present population of Granada amounts to nearly 
100,000 persons ; and, being situated so far south, it admits of many tropical plants 
and fruits being cultivated, large quantities of which are annually exported. Along 
the coast are raised indigo, coffee, and sugar. The last article is most abundant in 
the neighborhood of Malaga: the expenses attendant on its cultivation and prepara- 
tion are said to be moderate. The other productions of Granada are fruit, particular- 
ly pomegranates, lemons, oranges, olives, figs, almonds, capers, honey, and wax. 
Raisins form an article of export of considerable importance. In this province there 
are also salt springs, and in the mountains marble, with a rich store of minerals 
and ores. 

The province of Granada was the last stronghold of the Moors in Spain, when 
every other part of their fruitful kingdom had been subdued by the victorious arms 
of Ferdinand and Isabella ; and so highly did they esteem this portion of Andalusia, 
that they considered the Mahometan paradise to be situated immediately above it. 
The features of this people, who flourished like a brilliant exotic for so many cen- 
turies in the south of Spain, may still be traced among its inhabitants to the present 
day. 

The capital city of this province has the same name, it is situated in a romantic 
valley, near the extremity of the Vega de Granada, an extensive plan, which is sur- 
rounded by high mountains. Granada presents a very imposing appearance at a 
distance; its form nearly resembling that of a half-moon. The streets are built in 
terraces one above the other ; the whole being crowned by the ancient Moorish 
palace of the Alhambra, which is brought out into very strong relief by the lofty chain 
of the Sierra de Nevada in the background. The buildings of the Alhambra are 
very extensive ; we subjoin a description of a visit to it made by " a young American." 

The tower of the Tribunal, under which is the principal entrance to tke Alhambra, 
has an arched gateway, making right angles to mask the opening on the interior. 
The gate is placed at the second angle, so that it can not be assailed by missiles or 
battering-rams from without, and could only be attacked from the middle of the 
tower, where the assailant would be exposed to the spears and missiles of the gar- 
rison, wielded in perfect security through the perpendicular opening overhead. The 
arches that surmount the entrance, and the angles of the passages, are of horseshoe 
form, a distinctive character of Saracenic architecture, being so constructed that 
the parts of the arch corresponding to the ends of the horseshoe project a little be- 
yond the wall which sustains them, which, while it gives them an air of lightness, 
conveys also the idea of insecurity. Nor is this insecurity only apparent ; for we fre- 
quently saw brick arches of this form in Andalusia, which had lost the end bricks, 
forming the projections of the horseshoe, by which those that were above should 
have been sustained; though stone arches of this form are less liable to destruction, 
from the greater size of the component pans. There are several Arabic inscriptions 
which surmount these different arches and follow their curves, and which, like those 
within the palace, are mostly in praise of the Deity, of the prophet, or of the king 
who erected the tower. One of them is thus translated : " The praise of God. 



224 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

There is no god but God, and Mahomet is his prophet. There is no strength but in 
God." There are two objects, however, which antiquaries have been more puzzled to 
explain ; these are representations of the arm and closed hand of a man, and of a key, 
sculptured above the arches. It is said that the Arabs borrowed the emblem of the 
human arm from the ancient Egyptians, among whom it was the symbol of strength, 
and therefore an appropriate ornament for so formidable a tower. It had, moreover, 
a religious signification among the followers of Mahomet ; it represented the hand 
of God diriplayed in his superintending providence, and was besides emblematic of 
the principal dogmas of their creed ; for, as the hand has five fingers, in like manner 
the Mahometan religion establishes five fundamental precepts : to believe in God 
and in his prophet ; to call upon God in prayer ; to succor the poor ; to fast during 
the month of Ramadan : and to visit the temples of Mecca and Medina. In conse- 
quence of their faith being represented by the hand, the Saracens believed that it 
formed a powerful defence against the arms and wiles of infidels, and therefore used 
it as a charm, though it would have been idolatry thus to copy the whole body ; in 
the form of a clenched fist it was believed to weaken the power of an enemy ; and 
with the thumb passed between the fingers, it had the virtue of breaking a charm, 
and averting the blighting eff'ects of the evil eye, or of being looked on with desire 
by the possessor of the fatal, though involuntary power of fascination. Ivory repre- 
sentations of the hand in this last form were hung round the neck of an infant, and 
the throat-latch of a favorite horse, or on the cage of a nightingale. It was this 
charm, as we have already seen, that the Moriscoes were accused of making under 
their cloaks, when compelled to attend mass by the priests who counselled their 
expulsion, and it is still used among the lower classes in Spain to convey insults. 
The keys sculptured over the inner arch of the portal was likewise a mysterious 
symbol among the Saracens ; for it indicated the power claimed by the prophet, and 
which is also successfully used by the preachers of other faiths, of opening and shut- 
ting the gates of heaven. The key is, however, said to have been especially a favorite 
emblem with the Andalusians who first invaded Spain, and opened the door of con- 
quest to their young countrymen. These and their descendants wore it vauntingly in 
their standards. The entrance of the Tower of Tribunal remains unchanged since 
the days of Boabdil, with the single exception that we found a small chapel, under 
the invocation of the Virgin, constructed against the wall of .the passage, and fronting 
the interior of the Alhambra. The principal ornament over the rude altar of this 
little oratory, where the devout may make a flying invocation as they pass, is a small 
oil painting of the Virgin, with the infant Jesus in her arms. It appears from the 
adjoining table of indulgences granted to those who worship at this shrine, that this 
is the second portrait which St. Luke took in person of our blessed lady. Time, 
which would have left no traces of a heathen production, though Apelles had been 
the painter, has breathed kindly upon this precious relic. It is a singular religious 
coincidence thus to find a chapel, where more than divine adoration is offered to the 
Virgin, existing in the presence of such contradictory inscriptions, and, in fact, sur- 
mounted by the motto — " There is no god but God !" 

Having reached the interior of the citadel, our first care was to seek out the com- 
mander of the invalids who had so kindly offered to be our guide to the antiquities 
of the Alhambra. We readily found him, snugly domesticated in the superior story 
of that Tower of Tribunal through which we had entered, and though the place looked 
forbidding and cheerless without, there was no want of comforts within ; and when 
the old soldier, in showing us through his antique and characteristic habitation, had 
led us to the flat terrace that surmounts it, once the noisy arena of the lombard and 
the arquebuse, now the most peaceful as well as most beautiful of belvideres, we were 
again delighted with the display of the surrounding scenery ; the mountain of 
Alhambra, the ravine of the Daro, and the snowclad Sierra, are rich enough in mere 
picturesque attractions ; but the Vega is, after all, the object of which the eye 
never tires. 

The little sitting-room of the invalid had one window toward the south, and a 
second, which, instead of looking to the open air, is so covered by the front of the 
tower, that it only commands the portion of the gateway lying immediately below. 
We had noticed this in entering, and thought it so arranged merely as a station 
whence archers might defend the entrance without the risk of annoyance ; but we 
were now told that it was also connected with an oriental custom, and that in this 
secure situation, like the Turkish sultans in their Sublime Porte, the kings of Granada 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAIN. 



225 




226 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

were wont to hear the complaints of their subjects, and to administer summary- 
justice in person and upon the spot. Hence the name of the Tower of Tribunal. 

After a short repose we went to see the remains of the Moorish palace, passing 
on the way through the open place of arms, called now Plaza de los Algibes, from 
the immense reservoir for water which lies below. On the east stands the magnifi- 
cent palace of Charles V., and the other sides are flanked by towers and apartments 
of the old palace, or by the modern buildings which have sprung up within the 
walls ; for the Alhambra, besides its garrison of invalids, has a population of a thou- 
sand souls or more, attracted to the spot for the enjoyment of immunities which are 
not common to Granada, and which frequently render it a temporary refuge to 
criminals fleeing from the city. The reservoir in question occupies subterraneously 
an extent nearly equal to the whole Plaza, to which it gives its name, and is kept 
constantly filled by an aqueduct connected with the Daro, thus supplying water not 
only to the Alhambra, but also to many inhabitants of the city, among whom it is in 
great repute. In the spring it is emptied and carefully cleansed, then refilled and 
allowed to settle, and afterward refilled from time to time. The great depth of the 
reservoir maintains the water in a clear state, and of an equal temperature, warmer 
than the air in winter, and in summer as cool as one could desire. It is said to have 
contained sufficient water to supply the Granadian court, with a garrison of several 
thousands, for years, in the event of a siege and the exterior communication being 
interrupted by the destruction of the pipes. As we passed the curb of this mammoth 
cistern we found a number of watermen, who had come with asses from the city, to 
fill the jars hung on each side of their animals, and covered with leaves freshly 
culled from the grove of the Alhambra, and which, beiug wet, cool the water by 
constant evaporation. These people live by retailing the water in the streets and 
places of Granada, where they receive an ochavo for each glass, furnishing, as a 
bonus, two sugarplums of arise, which are eaten before swallowing the water. A 
young waterman, whose good taste had interspersed a few rich flowers with the 
leaves that surrounded his kegs, hastened to offer us a huge tumbler of pure and 
sparkling water, while with the other hand he opened the tin-box at his girdle, that 
we might supply ourselves with sugarplums. The temptation was not to be resisted ; 
and we drank long and freely of the best, and, to the unperverted taste of those who 
drink to supply a want of nature, most luxurious of beverages. 

The Moorish palace extends along the north side of the Alhambra, overlooking 
the ravine of the Daro. It is not easy, amid the existing ruins of the famous pile, to 
(determine what was its extent and form, when the abode of the powerful kings of 
iGranada. Part of the ancient constructions have yielded to their own frailty, part 
iave been overrun by the patched rookeries of the present inhabitants, and part re- 
moved to make room for the proud palace of the Cesar. It is believed, however, 
that when perfect it formed an extensive quadrangle, about four hundred feet long 
and two hundred feet wide, containing five enclosed courts, the largest of which 
stood in the centre, and was one hundred and fifty feet in length, by eighty in breadth ; 
the other four were placed at the four angles, and were of somewhat smaller size. 
The first exists at present, under the name of the court of the Myrtles, but of the 
smaller ones, the thrice-famed court of Lions alone remains. Although this may 
have been the general form of the edifice, it is not likely that its plan was rigorously 
uniform ; for in what remains it is difficult to trace anything like unity of design. 
The period of construction is evidently various, and there is a bewildering connexion 
of apartments, courts, galleries, and towers, that not only baffles description, but 
renders it difficult even for the person Avho sees it to form a clear idea of its figure. 
The royal apartments being in the towers that overlook the Daro, are of solid hewn 
stone ; the rest is frailly built of tapias, coated externally with a rough plaster, and 
within such a surface of stucco, impressed by means of wooden moulds, with a pro- 
fusion of elaborate figures, interwoven with inscriptions. 

The quadrangle through which we first passed was enclosed by a gallery, formed 
by the walls and by a range of light marble columns connected by arches. In the 
centre was a large sheet of water, constantly renewed by two crystal jets at the ex- 
tremities of the court, and which, running in canals from their overflowing basins, at 
length emptied themselves into the central reservoir, which was filled with gold and 
silver fishes, while the surrounding banks were formed into parterres. In the days 
of the Saracens it was dedicated to a different use ; it served for the legal purifica- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAIN. 227 

tions prescribed by. the Koran to the faithful who were about to assist in the devotions 
at the royal mosque, which stood adjoining. 

Besides this court stands the Tower of Comares, which forms an angle of the 
fortress, overlooking the Daro and Albaycin to the north, while the western windows 
command a view of Granada and the Vega. This Saloon of Comares, also called of 
the Ambassadors, is the largest and most magnificent of the royal apartments, being 
about forty feet square, with the lofty dome-like ceiling, the apex rising to the height 
of sixty feet. The pavement is of earthen tiles, alternated with others of blue and 
white porcelain, symmetrically disposed. The wainscot is lined Avith the same 
species of mosaic ; and above it the walls are covered with stucco, impressed by 
means of models, with a variety of regular figures, very exactly executed, and en.- 
closing small medallions for inscriptions, which are entwined with garlands of 
leaves, fruits, and flowers. At the junction of the walls and ceiling is a narrow 
riband running round the whole apartment, and closely written with Arabic charac- 
ters. Each side of the room has five window-places, three of which are open and 
two false, exceot on the side of the entrance, where all are closed. These windows 
are ornamentea with small columns sustaining arches, which are stuccoed to repre- 
sent leaves and flowers ; the false ones have long inscriptions on the interior of the 
arches. The cornice projects far from the walls, and is most elaborately decorated 
with a variety of minute ornament, fretted into the stucco. The ceiling leaves of the 
cornice at half a right angle, making upward in four sides, corresponding to the 
walls of the room until they terminate in a cupola. The whole of this lofty dome 
is lined with wood in small pieces of various colors placed in regular figures, and 
alternated with gilt and silver ; the whole forming a checkered mosaic, rudely repre- 
senting crowns, stars, and crescents. The roof is meant to imitate the splendors of 
the firmament : and however abortive the imitation, it does not want a certain grace. 
The inscriptions are said to be chiefly ejaculatory expressions in praise of the Deity, 
much in use among the followers of Mahomet, as, " God ! to thee let perpetual 
praise be given ! to thee thanksgiving for evermore ! For God is our aid in every 
affliction ; no creature has for excellence the attribute of mercy ; this is the preroga- 
tive of God alone. Glory to God !" Again, " There is no other god than God, the 
only, the absolute, the potent over the powerful !" There are others in praise of 
the building, and of the king who ordered its erection, " Oh thou, who art the son 
of a king, and the descendant of many kings ! it was thou who didst build and dec- 
orate this marvellous palace, which is of such singular beauty and in which the 
wondrous excellences of thy reign are demonstrated. Yes! the king Nasere is the 
powerful and the valiant, causing dread to all nations! If he should place himself 
in the heavens, the stars would lose their glory !" There is no inscription, however, 
which occurs so frequently in the Alhambra as that of " God alone is the conqueror !" 
This was the watchword of the Granadians, and was even stamped upon their coin. 
It originated with Muhamad Aharaar, the founder of the kingdom and builder of the 
Alhambra, who, being praised as the most valiant and successful of warriors, with 
the pious modesty of a brave man, disclaimed the honor, and, like the Templars in 
the better days of their order, placed upon his shield the humble motto, " Conqueror 
through God !" 

This Saloon of Comares formerly displayed in its walls a brilliant variety of colors, 
among which red, blue, and green, were the most conspicuous, while the multiplied 
inscriptions were brought into a relief of gold and silver. Time, neglect, and deso- 
lation, have dealt roughly with the Alhambra ; and the gorgeous coloring, the gold, 
the silver, and the enamel, are now covered with whitewash, filling up the inter- 
stices of the fretwork, and rounding all into uniformity. And yet the Saloon of Co- 
mares, with its fretted walls, its lofty roof, and numerous windows, overlooking one 
of nature's fairest pictures, can not even now be contemplated with indiff'erence. 
What, then, must it not have appeared to an age of inferior civilization, when all the 
splendor of contrasted coloring enlivened the present monotony ; when those myste- 
rious characters, which now baffle the curiosity of the unlearned, spoke in golden 
poetry to the beholders ; and when this naked and solitary apartment was provided 
with the luxurious conveniences of an oriental people, thronged by obsequious court- 
iers, and hallowed by the presence of royalty ! 

Returning from the Saloon of Comares to the principal quadrangle, we passed 
thence into the famous Court of Lions, which is enclosed by a gallery connected with 
the wall and the adjacent apartments, and sustained toward the court by high Ara- 



228 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

bic arches, standing on no fewer than one hundred and twenty-eight marble col- 
umns. The columns are about eight feet high, and as many inches in diameter, 
standing singly or grouped at the angles. The walls that enclose the court and gal- 
lery are plastered in stucco, and impressed with the same variety of ornaments and 
inscriptions that abound in the Saloon of Comares ; the pavement is of white marble. 
At each end of the court is a beautiful pavilion, connected with the gallery, but pro- 
jecting within the quadrangle ; columns similar to those of the gallery, in groups of 
three, sustain light horseshoe arches, ornamented profusely with garlands, upon 
whicli rests a miniature dome, whose cavity is ornamented with a fretwork of rich 
woods. A fountain, placed under each of these pavilions, throws a jet of water aloft 
into the obscurity of each cupola, whence it falls back in spray. 

Between these two pavilions stands the Fountain of Lions, consisting of a large 
marble basin, ten feet in diameter, yet of a single piece, supported on the haunches- 
of twelve lions, drawn up in a circle, with their heads outward. This basin is sur- 
mounted by a smaller one, into which the water, bursting from a jet at its centre, 
falls back, thence running over on every side in a continuous sheet, resembling a 
glass cylinder as it descends to the lower basin, where it is augmAited by twelve 
streams spouted backward from the mouths of the lions. It is said that this fountain 
was consecrated in imitation of the brazen sea of Solomon, described in the book of 
Chronicles, where we read that there were twelve moulten oxen, "and the sea was 
set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward." Even the garlands 
sculptured round the brim are repeated in the Fountain of Lions. An identity of de- 
sign will appear nowise incredible, when we consider .the number of Jews living^ in 
Granada from the earliest times, and the great favor which they enjoyed among the 
Saracens, from their common oriental origin, from the assistance they had lent at the 
time of the conquest, and from their we'alth, learning, and refinement, so superior to 
the age of warfare in which they lived. The lions are rudely formed, as might be 
expected among a people to whom the imitation of animate forms was interdicted, 
and who in this case acted by exception. We may see, however, in these figures, 
round the Fountain of Lions, an effort on the part of the Granadians to release them- 
selves from an ordinance of their religion, which effectually checked their progress 
in the arts. The walls that encircle the court, the arches, and the fountains, are 
profusely covered with inscriptions, telling the beholder, in the language of song, the 
admiration this place excited among the poets of Granada. Some of them are trans- 
lated as follows : " Blessed is he who gave unto the prince Muhamad a habitation, 
which for beauty excels all others. Oh ! heir of the Naseritan blood ! there is no 
glory equal to that of inheriting such power and greatness ! The peace of God be 
with thee for ever! causing thee to keep thy subjects in obedience, and to subdue 
thine enemies. Dost thou not see in what confusion the waters run ; and yet, other 
currents are constantly falling ? It is like unto a lover bathed in tears, and who 
carefully conceals them from the object of her passion. And, perhaps, it is in reality 
but a crystal cloud spreading itself over the lions." There is another, which fur- 
nishes the beholder with a very gratuitous piece of encouragement : " thou who 
lookesl upon these lions, fear not ! they have not life to harm thee." In addition to 
the three principal fountains of the interior, there are twelve smaller jets in the sur- 
rounding gallery, the waters of which, after falling back into their respective basins, 
run in marble canals until they meet at the central reservoir under the Fountain of 
the Lions. The number of currents constantly running within this small area is still 
further increased by the jets from the neighboring apartments, which empty at the 
common centre, imparting to the whole scene a magical animation, while, to com- 
plete the attractions of the place, the v/hole vacant portion of the quadrangle is laid 
out as a flower-garden, and planted with cypresses. 

The Court of the Lions is the most pleasing monument left by the Saracens in, 
Spain, to testify that the story of their brilliant and meteor-like domination is indeed 
no dream of the fancy. It was on the feast of Corpus Christi that we visited it ; the 
waters were all playing in honor of the day, and the whole quadrangle, with its ad- 
joining apartments, was thronged with blue-eyed or dark peasant-girls, and well- 
made mountaineers, all decked in picturesque costume, who had come to assist in 
the festivities of Granada, and chiefly to gain indulgences by hearing the grand mass 
to be that day celebrated in the Metropolitan, with archiepiscopal pomp, and the 
exposition of the most precious relics, and to receive pleasure I'rom seeing the con- 
cluding bullfight in the amphitheatre. The moment of our visit was, therefore, most 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAIN. 



229 




230 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

auspicious. The finest specimens of the human form mingled amid the low arches, 
the fpuntless columns, the foliage, and the water ; and we could not but admit, that, 
though shorn of its gay coloring, its enameled silver, and gilded illuminations, the 
Court of the Lions was still a place of no ordinary attraction. 

Adjoining the Court of Lions, and standing open toward it, are three rooms, among 
the most richly decorated of the Alhambra. One of them is now called the Chamber 
ofi'Justice, because romantic tradition points to it as the scene of the trial of Boabdil's 
sultana, under a false charge of infidelity with Abenhamet Abencerrage. Among its 
ornaments are some human figures in Eastern costume, rudely painted on the wall. 
They are too badly done to belong to the period of the conquest, which was also the 
age of Raphael; and therefore must rather be referred to an earlier period, having 
probably been executed by some Christian captive, for their faith forbade the Sara- 
cens most strictly from all imitations of the human form, as idolatrous. Lideed, 
when they entered Spain as conquerors, they everywhere destroyed the objects of art 
that came in their way, grinding into powder every statue, however beautiful and 
beyond all price, and converting it into cement and stucco for the building of their 
cities. And thus it may well be, that many of the proudest productions of the Roman 
or Grecian chisel, after having delighted the eyes of many succeeding generations, 
may now crumble undistinguished amid the ruins of the Alhambra. 

Another of the rooms which open upon the Court of Lions is called the Hall of 
Abencerrages, and has in its centre a marble fountain, which tradition has connected 
with a melancholy tale. It is here, we are told in the romances, that Boabdil, insti- 
gated by the treacherous Zegris, who had invented the tale of the sultana's guilt, 
enticed the Abencerrages one by one, and, as they reached the Court of Lions, caused 
them to be decapitated, after allowing each to contemplate a while the bloody tragedy 
which had been wrought upon his companions. The hall itself and the neighboring 
court were strewed with headless trunks, while the marble basin was piled high 
with the ghastly visages of those once light-hearted cavaliers, and the best blood of 
Granada filled the narrow canal, and sought an outlet at the feet of the lions. The 
red veins that still streak the marble were shown us as the traces of that ensanguined 
current, and the tender-hearted damsels from the mountains, who had oft wepl over 
the plaintive romance in which the treachery is alone recorded, sighed and grew 
tearful as they remembered how — 

" En las Torres de Alhambra 
Sonaba gran voceria, 
Y en la ciudad de Granada 
Grande llanto se hacia, 
Porque sin razon el Rey 
Hizo degollar un dia 
Treinta y seis Abencerrages 
Nobles de grande valia, 
A quien Zegries y Gomeles 
Acusan de alebosia : 
Q,ue exi perder tales varonea 
Es mucho lo que perdia. 
Lloraban tod as las Damas 
duantas en Granada habia 
Por las callea y ventanas 
Mucho luto parecia." 

Nothing is more cruel than to be aroused from a cherished day-dream to the dull 
realities of waking existence, and it is but an ungrateful task to be called upon to 
disturb these old associations, which cling, like their own cobwebs, to the walls of 
the Alhambra; for what will remain to Granada in the eye of poetry, if you take 
away its Zulemas, its Zaydes, its Zegries, and its Abencerrages? Even an attempt 
to save the livesof thirty-six Abencerrages will, we fear, be received as anything but 
an act of kindness. _ Nevertheless, it may be but fair to state, that all we have^been 
accustomed to read in romances of the trial of the queen, of her defence by the four 
Christian cavaliers, and this slaughter of the Abencerrages, is nowhere to be met with 
upon the page of history. These stories re-t upon the authority of a work called 
"The Civil Wars of Granada," written toward the close of the sixteenth century, 
by one Gines Perez de Hita, who professes to have translated it from an Arabic 
manuscript. This work, though it pretends to be a history, has not even the usual 
quantity of truth with which writers of fiction are accustomed to cast a shade of 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAI ''. 231 

probability over their inventions. It was probably written to embody the Moorish 
and Castilian romances, which we find plentifully scattered throughout the work, 
and which either grew up around the chivalry of the two nations, or were afterward 
composed, when the lapse of time began to leave room for the embellishments of 
fancy. 

The " Civil Wars" is not, however, without merit, as a mere' work of fiction ; it 
gives an insight into the chivalrous usages of the Saracens of Granada, and the bull- 
feasts, cane-tilts, and tournaments, are described with vivid simplicity. It is from 
this work that the chief incidents of Elorian's beautiful romance have been taken , 
and even an identity of scenes and names is observable in the Gonsalve de Gordouc. 

The sleeping and feasting apartments, and baths, are found in a lower story of the 
palace, and are subterranean, except on the side of the precipice. In the chambers 
are large alcoves for beds, raised a little above the level of the floor, and paved with 
tiles of various colors, the entrance being flanked by columns sustaining horseshoe 
arches. In the centre of the chambers are jets, to cool the air or lull the senses of 
the sleeper. The feasting-hall has no windows, and was therefore doubtless lighted 
artificially, to give effect to Asiatic luxury. Near its ceiling is a gallery, where mu- 
sicians remained in waiting to attune their melodies to the mood of those who feasted, 
bathed, or sought sleep, in the adjoining apartments. The first of the bathing-rooms 
contains small marble baths of the size in use among us, and which are said to have 
been set apart for children. Further on is the principal room, whose destination is 
sufficiently shown by the niches without the door, similar to those of the other state 
apartments, to receive the slippers of those who approached the royal presence. For 
the Asiatics uncover the feet instead of the head, in token of deference. The baths 
here, two in number, are formed of large slabs of white marble, and are of uncom- 
mon size, being quite large enough for swimming. The floor is paved with marble 
slabs, and the walls are of stucco, richly impressed and illuminated, while the ceil- 
ing forms an arched vault of bold and beautiful execution. Apertures cut through it, 
in the form of stars, allowed the vapor to escape, and admitted the only external 
light that reached this spot, destined to the exercise of a religious observance and to 
luxury. As we grouped through these ruined apartments, reconnoitring their dark 
and untenanted recesses, with no other sound than that of our own resounding foot- 
fall, treading heedless through the once secret and hallowed precincts of the harem, 
it was curious and melancholy to turn, in fancy, from the present to the past, and 
conjure up the far different spectacle which the place must have presented ere the 
evil day of Granada had arrived. 

Having seen the baths, we reascended toward the Queen's Toilet, and on our way 
passed through some apartments of the time of Charles V. One of these stands on 
a small courtyard, and has a gallery round the interior, which is strongly wickered 
with rods of iron. We are told that here the sultana was imprisoned after the accu- 
sation of the Zegries ; for romance has here lent another tradition to the modern ten- 
ants of the Alhambra. It is said, with more probability, that Queen Joanna, becoming 
foolish with grief upon the death of her husband, Philip the Handsome, was confined 
for a time in the apartments adjoining this cage, which was constructed for her recep- 
tion. This, though disputed, receives some coloring of possibility from the fact that 
the apartment bears the initials of Charles V., her son, and from the notorious imbe- 
cility of Joanna, who used to spend most of her time in the company of her dead hus- 
band, and even carry his body with heron her journeys, thereby acquiring for herself 
the surname of " The Foolish." The Alhambra, in its day of adversity, is still the 
prison of a maniac. We saw in a lower cell of one of the towers, overlooking the 
precipice of the Daro, an emaciated and squalid wretch, sitting in the sill of a grated 
window, and gazing with haggard and vacant, yet steadfast eye, upon the narrow 
portion of the Vega thence visible. His hands grasped two of the window-bars, and 
his meager and bloodless face, rendered still more ashy by the blackness of his mat- 
ted hair and beard, was forced between the irons, as if there were a satisfaction in 
approaching a little nearer to the scenes upon which he gazed so wistfully. We 
thought at first that he was a state prisoner, of whom we had already seen several 
taking the air on the tower of La Vela, but learned, on inquiring, that he was a 
maniac, brother to the woman who had the keys of this portion of the palace. 

Sakagossa is a large and celebrated Spanish city, and the capital of Aragon. It 
stands in a fertile plain on the banks of the river Ebro, on the site of the ancient 
Koman colony, Csesar Augustus, of which the present name is a corruption. This 



232 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

city still possesses many attractions, in an architectural point of view, and before the 
terrible sieges which it had to sustain against the French, boasted many more. One 
of the most singular edifices which it conlains, is the leaning tower, which, in point 
of inclination, may be said to rival that of Pisa. It has stood since 1594, and its 
present use is that of a belfry. The ascent is by two hundred and eighty steps, and 
from the upper balcony a noble prospect is gained. The style of its architecture is 
pretty and ornamental ; and the material employed in its construction is brick. "At 
first sight of this curious edifice," says Mr. Locker, " the question 'How came it so ?' 
instantly occurred to us ; but we found it not so easy to obtain a solution, for the 
critics of Saragossa seem as much divided in opinion as those of Pisa ; and though 
their tower is not so old, by four centuries, the cause of its declination is involved in 
equal perplexity. It is not improbable that the foundation may have sunk during its 
erection, and that the architect may have carried up the remainder of his work as a 
triumph of his art, counterbalancing the inferior side, in order to prevent the fabric 
from oversetting, in the same manner as the antiquaries profess to have discovered, 
in the construction of the Pisan tower." 

Saragossa has gained celebrity by the two sieges which it sustained in 1808 and 
1809. The adjoining provinces of Catalonia and Navarre were overrun by the 
French troops ; Saragossa, which was garrisoned by not more than two hundred and 
twenty regulars, was unfortified, and the public treasury was empty. When the 
people were seeking for a leader, the rank of Palafox, and the favor which he was 
known to have enjoyed with Ferdinand, directed their choice to him, and accordingly, 
on the 26th of May, 1808, he was proclaimed by them governor of Saragossa, and^' 
of all the kingdom of Aragon. He was then in his eight-and-twentieth year, and 
had but a scanty portion of military knowledge. He immediately called into service 
all the halfpay officers, formed several corps, composed, in part, of the students of 
the university, took other measures to sustain a siege, and declared war against the 
French, in a proclamation remarkable for its energy. This paper was hardly issued, 
before a French corps of eight thousand men marched to attack Saragossa. The 
French were, however, met by the Spaniards, and after a hard struggle, compelled 
to retire. 

Palafox took advantage of this to quit the city for a while, in order to collect 
troops, and organize the defence of the rest of the province. He returned with 
about fifteen hundred men, who had retreated from Madrid, and was soon invested 
by the French, who had received powerful reinforcements, and a train of artillery. 
The besiegers carried the post of Torrero and some other exterior works, though not 
without great loss, pushed forward their attacks against the gates of El Carman 
and El Portillo, began to bombard the city, and forcing their way into the place by 
the gate of Santa Engracia, at length made themselves masters of nearly half of 
Saragossa. The French general now summoned Palafox to surrender. His sum- 
mons was contained in ihe following laconic sentence: "Headquarters, St. Engra- 
cia : capitulation." With equal Spartan brevity, Palafox instantly replied, "Head- 
quarters, Saragossa : war at the point of the knife." 

A council of war was now held, in which it was resolved that the remaining 
quarters of the city should be contested, inch by inch, and that, should they be lost, 
the people should retire across the Ebro into the suburbs, destroy the bridge, and de- 
fend the suburbs to the last man. The resolution was unanimously applauded by 
the Saragossans. They did not, however, content themselves with resting on the 
defensive. They fell upon the besiegers with unequalled and irresistible fury. The 
struggle continued for eleven days, almost without intermission. Every day the peo- 
ple gained ground, till, at last, the enemy held only a narrow space within the walls. 
Convinced that there was no longer any hope of success, the French general aban- 
doned the siege, which had lasted sixty-one days, and cost him several thousand 
men. Palafox availed himself of the breathing-time thus obtained, to increase his 
force, and construct additional works. He was not allowed a long respite. To re- 
duce Saragossa to submission, was, on many accounts, an object of great importance 
to the French. In November, therefore, a large army, under Marshals Mortier and 
Moncey, marched to recommence the siege. Palafox was defeated at Tudela, and 
again under the walls of Saragossa, and the place was invested. Being summoned 
to surrender, he replied and acted with the same energy as before. The approaches 
were vigorously carried on by the French, and a furious bombardment was inces- 
santly kept up. Almost hourly combats took place between the besiegers and the 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAIN. 



233 







234 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

besieged, in which the latter displayed a desperate valor. At length, January 27, a 
general assault was made, and the French established themselves on the breaches. 
Once more they penetroted, by degrees, into the city, and once more they met with 
the most obstinate and sanguinary resistance. Old men, Avomen, and children, all 
took a part in endeavoring to stop the progress of the besiegers. Not only street by 
street, but house by house, and even room by room, was contended for, like the out- 
works of a fortress, and frequently lost and recovered. The besiegers finally resorted 
to mining, to win their way, their progress by open force being bought at too dear a 
rate. In this way, they became masters of about one fourth of the surface of the 
city. Saragossa, however, would long have resisted all their efforts, had it not been 
assailed by a force more terrible than the besiegers. An epidemic fever raged in the 
place, and spread destruction among the Saragossans, and there were neither hos- 
pitals, nor medicines, nor even shelter for the sick. Palafox himself was attacked 
by it, and was obliged to give up the comihand to General St. Marc, by whom the 
capitulation was signed on the following day. At the period of its investment, Sar- 
agossa was estimated to contain fifty thousand souls. Six thousand Saragossans fell 
in battle, about thirty thousand by pestilence, while the gallant defenders, reduced 
to about twelve thousand men, evacuated the city on its being taken possession of by 
the French. 

Saragossa has a resident population of forty-seven thousand persons, and it is one 
hundred and seventy-five miles east-northeast of "Madrid. 

Spain was long known as that country where the inquisition existed in all its terri- 
ble power. The immediate cause of the erection of the tribunals of faith, was the 
rapid spread of the sect of Albigenses, the prosecution of whom, in the twelfth and 
thirteenth centuries, made the south of France a scene of bloodshed and violence. 
The project of extirpating the rebellious members of the church, and of extending 
the papal power at the expense of the bishops, by means of the inquisition, was 
conceived by Pope Innocent III., who ascended the papal chair in 1198, and was 
completed by his immediate successors. This tribunal, called the holy office, was 
under the immediate direction of the papal chair; it was to seek out heretics and 
adherents of false doctrines, and to pronounce its dreadful sentence against their 
fortunes, their honor, and their lives, without appeal. The process of this tribunal 
differed entirely from that of the civil courts. The informer was not only concealed, 
but rewarded by the inquisition. The accused was obliged to be his own accuser ; 
suspected persons were secretly seized and thrown into prison. No better instruments 
could be found for inquisitors, than the mendicant orders of monks, particularly the 
Franciscans and Dominicans, whom the pope employed to destroy the heretics, and 
inquire into the conduct of bishops. 

Pope Gregory IX., in 1233, completed the design of his predecessors, and, as they 
had succeeded in giving these inquisitorial monks, who were wholly dependent on 
the pope, an unlimited power, and in rendering the interference of the temporal 
magistrates only nominal, the inquisition was successively introduced into several 
parts of Italy, and into some provinces of France ; its power in the latter country 
being more limited than in the former. The tribunals of faith were admitted into 
Spain in the middle of the thirteenth century, but a firm opposition was made to 
them, particularly in Castile and Leon, and the bishops there maintained their ex- 
clusive jurisdiction in spiritual matters. But a change afterward took place; and 
while, in other countries of Europe, the inquisition could never obtain a firm footing, 
but in some fell entirely into disuse, as in France, and in others, as in Venice, was 
closely watched by the civil power, an institution grew up in Spain, toward the end 
of the fifteenth century, which was the most remarkable of all the inquisitorial courts 
of the middle ages, and differed much from the rest in its objects and organization. 

Ferdinand of Aragon, and Isabella of Castile, having united their power, made 
many efforts to break the strength of the nobles, and to render the royal authority 
absolute. The inquisition was used as a means of effecting their plans. There were 
three religious parties in Spain, Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans. The Moors 
still maintained possession of the last remnant of their empire, the kingdom of 
Granada, which was, however, already threatened by the arms of Ferdinand and 
Isabella. The Jews had their synagogues, and formed a distinct class in the princi- 
pal cities of Spain. Commerce was principally in their hands ; they were the 
lessees of the king and the nobles, and suffered no oppression, being subject only to 
a moderate capitation tax, which they had been obliged to pay to the clergy. The 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAIN. 235 

riches which they had amassed by their industry, exposed them to great envy and 
hatred, which was nourished by the ignorance of the priesthood. The sermons of a 
fanatical monk, Fernando Martinez Nunez, who preached the persecution of the Jews 
as a good work, was the principal cause of the popular tumults in many cities, in 
1391 and 1392, in which this unhappy people was plundered, robbed, and murdered. 
Many Jews submitted to baptism to save their lives, and the descendants of these un-. 
fortunate men were, for about one hundred years, the first victims of inquisitorial 
zeal. 

In 1477, when several turbulent nobles had been reduced in the southern part of 
Spain, Queen Isabella went to Seville with the cardinal Pedro Gonzalez de Menr 
doza : there this prelate, as archbishop of Seville, made the first attempt to introduce 
the inquisition. At his command, punishments were publicly and privately inflicted, 
and it was discovered, among other things, that many citizens of Seville, of Jewish 
origin, followed in private the manners and customs of their fathers. The cardinal 
charged some of the clergy privately to enlighten the faith of these people, and to 
make the hypocrites true sons of the church. These teachers brought back many 
to the faith ; but many, who persevered in their opposition to the doctrines of the 
church, were condemned and punished. After this prelude, the design was disclosed 
of extending the inquisition over the whole country; and Mendoza laid the project 
before the sovereigns Ferdinand and Isabella. They approved of an institution, 
which at the same time suited the persecuting spirit of the age, and could be used as 
a powerful engine of state. The design was, by means of this institution, which was 
to be entirely dependent on the court, to oppress those who were, either secretly or 
openly, Jews or Mohammedans (and many Christian noblemen belonged to the 
party of the Mohammedans, the standing allies of the malcontents), to enrich the 
royal treasiyy, to which the property of the condemned was confiscated, and to limit 
the power of the nobles, and even of the clergy. In the assembly of the estates, held 
at Toledo, in 1480, the erection of the new tribunal was urged by the cardinal. 

After the superior branches of administration — the supreme council of Castile, the 
council of state, the board of finance, and the council of Aragon — had been confirmed 
by the estates, the cardinal declared that it was necessary to establish a permanent 
tribunal to take cognizance of matters of faith, and to administer the ecclesiastical 
police. In spite of all opposition, it was determined to establish a tribunal, under 
the name of the general inquisition, and the new court was opened in Seville in 1481. 
Thomas de Torquemada, prior of the Dominican convent at Segovia, and father- 
confessor to the cardinal' Mendoza, had already been appointed by Ferdinand and 
Isabella the first grand inquisitor, in 1478. He had two hundred familiars, and a 
guard of fifty horsemen, but he lived in continual fear of poison. The Dominican 
monastery at Seville soon became insufficient to contain the numerous prisoners, and 
the king removed the court to the castle in the suburb of Triana. At the first auto 
dafe, or act of faith, seven apostate Christians were burnt, and the number of peni- 
tents was much greater. Spanish writers relate, that above 17,000 gave themselves 
up to the inquisition, more than 2,000 were condemned to the flames the first year, 
and great numbers fled to the neighboring countries ; and many hundred Jews escaped 
into Portugal, Africa, and other places. The pope, however, had opposed the estab- 
lishment of the Spanish inquisition, as the conversion of an ecclesiastical into a secular 
tribunal. Soon after the appointment of the new inquisitor, he had directed the arch- 
bishop of Toledo, a warm enemy of Mendoza, to hold a solemn court over a teacher 
in Salamanca, who was charged with heretical opinions, and the inquisitor-general 
was repeatedly summoned to Rome. Torquemada, however, did not obey the sum- 
mons, but sent a friend to defend his cause. The contest between the pope and the 
Spanish court, was carried on with vigor, until 1483, when Sixtus IV. was obliged 
to yield, and acknowledge Torquemada as inquisitor-general of Castile and Leon. 
He was also authorized by the papal bull to establish inferior courts at pleasure, to 
remove those judges who had been appointed by the pope, and to regulate the manner 
of proceeding in inquiries respecting matters of faith according to the new plan. A 
later bull subjected Aragon, Valencia, and Sicily, the hereditary dominions of Ferdi- 
nand, to the inquisitor-general of Castile ; and thus the inquisition was the first tri- 
bunal whose jurisdiction extended over the two Spanish kingdoms of Castile and 
Aragon, the Aragonese estates, at their session at Tarragona, in 1484, being obliged 
to swear to protect the inquisition. 

The introduction of the new tribunal was attended with risings and opposition in 



236 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

many places, excited by the cruelty of the inquisitors, and encouraged perhaps by 
the jealously of the bishops ; several places, particularly Saragossa, refused admission 
to the inquisitors, many of whom lost their lives ; but the people were obliged to 
yield in the contest, and the kings became the absolute judges in matters of faith ; 
the honor, the property, and the life, of every subject was in their hands. They named 
the grand inquisitor, and by them, or under their immediate influence, were his as- 
sessors appointed, even the secular ones, two of whom were of the supreme council 
of Castile, laymen being permitted to hold the office. This tribunal was thus wholly 
dependent on the court, and became a powerful instrument for, establishing the arbi- 
trary power of the king on the ruins of the national freedom ; for putting down the 
clergy, who had previously acknowledged only the jurisdiction of the Roman see; 
for oppressing the bold nobles, and taking away the privileges of the estates. The 
property of those who were condemned fell to the king ; and although it had been 
granted to the inquisition, it was still at his disposition. Ferdinand and Isabella, 
indeed, devoted a part of this property to found convents and hospitals ; but the 
church, notwithstanding, lost many possessions by m«ans of the inquisition ; and an 
ordinance, drawn by Torquemada, in 1487, proves that it was a source of revenue to 
the king, supplying the treasury, which was exhausted by the war ; the inquisitorial 
chest was, indeed, at that time, drained by so many royal drafts, that the officers 
could not obtain their salaries. 

The first ordinance by Torquedama, dedicating the tribunal to the service of God 
and their majesties, bears date 1484. Among other articles are the following, show- 
ing the political importance of the institution : In every conqmunity, the grand inquis- 
itor shall fix a period, from thirty to forty days, within which time heretics, and those 
who have relapsed from the faith, shall deliver themselves up to the inquisition. 
Penitent heretics and apostates, although pardoned, could hold no public office ; they 
could not become lessees, lawyers, physicians, apothecaries, or grocers; they could 
not wear gold, silver, or precious stones, or ride, or carry arms, during their whole 
life, under penalty of being declared guilty of a relapse into heresy ; and they were 
obliged to give up a part of their property for the support of the war against the 
Moors. Those who did not surrender themselves within the time fixed, were de- 
prived of their property irrevocably. The absent also, and those who had been long 
dead, cottld be condemned, provided there was sufficient evidence against them. The 
bones of those who were condemned after death were dug up, and the property which 
they had left reverted to the king. Torquemada died in 1493, and was buried in the 
Dominican convent at Avila, which had been built with the property taken from 
heretics, and was a monument of his cruel zeal. He had resigned his office two 
years before, being afflicted with the gout. According to another account, Torque- 
mada did not retire so quietly from the stage. It is said, that suspecting Ferdinand 
and Isabella, whom the wars with the Moors had involved in great pecuniary em- 
barrassments, would be moved, by the great sums which were offered them, to limit 
the privileges of the inquisition, and, disturbed by this apprehension, he went to the 
royal palace, with a crucifix, under his mantle. " I know your thoughts," said he 
boldly lo the sovereigns ; " behold the form of the crucified one, whom the godless 
Judas sold to his enemies for thirty pieces of silver. If you approve the act, yet sell 
him dearer. I here lay down my office, and am free from all responsibility ; but you 
shall give an account to God." He then laid down the cross, and left the palace. 

At first, the jurisdiction of the inquisition was not accurately defined ; but it re- 
ceived a more regular organization by the ordinance of 1484, establishing branches 
in the different provinces of Spain, under the direction of the inquisitor-general. In 
later times, the supreme tribunal was at Madrid. The inquisitor-general presided. 
Of the six or seven councillors whom he appointed on the nomination of the king, 
one, according to an ordination of Philip III., must be a Dominican. He had a fis- 
cal, two secretaries, a receiver, two relators, and several officials, as they were called, 
who were appointed by the grand inquisitor, in concurrence with the king. The in- 
quisitorial council assembled every day, except on holydays, in the royal palace ; on 
the last three days of the week, two members of the council of Castile were present 
at the meeting. It was the duty of some of the officers {calificadores) to explain 
whether any act or opinion was contrary to the doctrines of the church ; others were 
lawyers, who merely had a deliberative voice. The sentence of the inquisition was 
definitive. It, was the duty of the fiscal to examine the witnesses, to give informa- 
tion of criminals, to demand their apprehension, and to accuse them when seized. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAIN. 237 

He was present at the examination of the witnesses, at the torture, and at the meet- 
ing of the judges, where the votes were taken. It was the duty of the registers, 
besides the preparation of the necessary papers, to observe the accuser, the witnes- 
ses, and the accused, during their legal examination, and to watch closely the slight- 
est motion by which their feelings might betray themselves. The officials were per- 
sons sent by the court to arrest the accused. A sequestrador, who was obliged to 
give sureties to the office, kept an account of the confiscated property. The receiver 
took the money which came from the sale of sequestered property, and paid the sal- 
aries and drafts on the treasury. 

It is computed, that there were in Spain above twenty thousand officers of the in- 
quisition, called familiars, who served as spies and informers. These places were 
sought even by persons of rank, on account of the great privileges connected with 
them. As soon as an accuser appeared, and the fiscal had called upon the court to 
exercise their authority, an order was issued to seize the accused. In an ordinance 
of 1732, it was made the duty of all believers to inform the inquisition if they knew 
any one, living or dead, present or absent, who had wandered from the faith, who 
did observe, or had observed, the law of Moses, 'or even spoken favorably of it ; if 
they knew any one who followed, or had followed, the doctrines of Luther ; any one 
who had concluded an alliance with the devil, either expressly, or virtually ; any 
one who had possessed any heretical book, or the Koran, or the Bible in the Spanish 
tongue ; or in fine, if they knew any one who had harbored, received, or favored 
heretics. If the accused did not appear at the third summons, he was excommuni- 
cated. From the moment that the prisoner was in the power of the court, he was 
cut off from the world. 

The prisons, called holy houses, consisted of vaulted apartments, each divided into 
several square cells, which were about ten feet high, and stood in two rows, one over 
the other. In the upper cells, a dim ray of light fell through a grate ; the lower 
were smaller and darker. Each dungeon had two doors. The inner, which Avas 
bound with iron, had a grate through which food was introduced for the prisoner. 
The other door was opened, early in the morning, to air the cell. The prisoner, was 
allowed no visits from his friends or relations ; no book of devotion was given him ; 
he was compelled to sit motionless and silent, in his dark cell, and if his feelings 
found vent in a tone of complaint, or even in a pious hymn, the ever-watchful keeper 
warned him to be silent. Only one captive was usually placed in each cell, unless 
for the purpose of making discoveries. At the first hearing, the accused was called 
upon to confess his guilt. If he confessed the crime of which he was accused, he 
pronounced his own sentence, and his property was confiscated. If he declared him- 
self innocent, contrary to the testimony of the witnesses, he was threatened with 
torture. The advocate who was appointed to defend him, could not speak to him 
except in the presence of the inquisitors. The accused was not confronted with the 
accuser, nor the witnesses before the court, neither were they made known to him ; 
and he was often subjected to the torture, to extort a confession, or to explain circum- 
stances which had not been fully explained by the witnesses. Those Avho escaped 
death by repentance and confessions, were obliged to abjure their errors, and to swear 
to submit to all the pains and penalties which the court ordered. Imprisonment, 
often for life, scourging, and the loss of property, were the punishments to which 
the penitent was subjected. He was made infamous, as well as his children and 
grandchildren. Wearing the san-benito, the blessed vest of penitence, a sort of 
coarse, yellow tunic, with a cross on the breast and back, and painted over with 
devils, was a common method of punishment. An accused person, who was fortu- 
nate enough to escape before the officers of the inquisition could seize him, was 
treated as an obstinate heretic. Summonses were posted up in all the public places, 
calling on him to appear. If he did not do this within a certain time, and if the 
evidence of the witnesses proved the charges, he was delivered over to the secular 
power, and burnt in effigy. Persons who had been dead more than forty year;!, were 
condemned, and though their children retained possession of the property they inher- 
ited, yet they were dishonored, and rendered incapable of holding any public office. 
When sentence of death was pronounced against the accused, the holy auto da fe 
was ordered. This usually took place on a Sunday, between Trinity Sunday and 
Advent. At daybreak, the solemn sound of the great bell of the cathedral called 
the faithful to the dreadful spectacle. Men of high rank pressed forward, to offer 
their services in accompanying the condemned, and grandees were often seen acting 



238 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



as familiars to the inquisition. The condemned appeared barefooted, clothed in a pe- 
culiar dress, with a conical cap [caroza) on their heads. The accompanying engra- 
ving shows one attired in this costume, while at his side is one who has recanted. 




Costumes of Prisoners of the Inquisition. 

The Dominicans, with the banner of the inquisition, led the way. Then came 
the penitents, who were to be punished by fines, &c., and after the cross, which was 
borne behind the periitents, walked the unfortunate wretches who were condemned 
to death. The effigies of those who had fled, and the bones of the dead who had 
been condemned, appeared in black coffins, painted over with flames and fiendish 
forms ; and the dreadful procession was closed by monks and priests. It proceeded 
through the principal streets of the city to the church, where a sermon was preached, 
and the sentence then pronounced. The convicted stood, during this act, before a 
crucifix, with an extinguished taper in their hands. As " the church never pollutes 
herself with blood," a servant of the inquisition, when the ceremony was finished, 
gave each of those who had been sentenced, a blow with the hand, to signify that 
the inquisition had no longer any power over them, and that the victims were aban- 
doned to the secular arm. A civil officer, who was affectionately charged " to treat 
them kindly and mercifully," now received the condemned, bound them with chains, 
and led them to the place of execution. They were then asked in what faith they 
would die. Those who answered catholic, were first strangled ; the rest were burnt 
alive. The aucos da fe were spectacles to which the people thronged as eagerly as 
to the celebration of a victory. Even the kings considered it a meritorious act to be 
present, with tbeir courts, and to witness the agonies of the victims. 

In this manner did the inquisition proceed, in the times of its most dreadful ac- 
tivity. The Spaniards found their personal freedom so much restrained, even in the 
early period of the existence of this office, that one of the principal requests of the 
disaffected, in the reign of Charles I., was, that the king should compel the inquisi- 
tion to act according to the principles of justice. But the important influence which 
this court had, in the course of the following century, both on the state and on the 
moral character of tlie Spaniards, could not, at that time, have been anticipated. 
This noble and high-spirited people were more debased by the dark power of the in- 
quisition than by any other instrument of arbitrary government, and the stagnation 
of intellectual action which followed the discovery of America, concurred, with 
other fatal causes, to diminish the industry of the people, to weaken the power of 
the slate, and to prevent, for a long time, any attempt at attaining a higher degree 
of moral and intellectual improvement. In more modern times, when the spirit of 



' CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SPAIN. 239 

persecution was restrained in almost all other countries of Europe, the original or- 
ganization of the inquisition was but little changed ; but the dread of this dark 
court gradually diminished. The horrible spectacle of an auto da fe wzs seldom 
witnessed during the last century, and the punishments of the inquisition were con- 
fined, in a considerable degree, to those men who had become obnoxious to justice. 

In 1762, the grand inquisitor having, contrary to the express will of the king, pub- 
lished a bull, excommunicating a French book, was exiled to a monastery at a dis- 
tance from Madrid. A royal decree forbade the inquisition to issue any commands 
without the consent of the king, and required the grand inquisitor, in the condemna- 
tion of books, to conform to the laws of the land, and to make known his prohibi- 
tion only by virtue of the power given him by his office, and not with the citation of 
bulls. The decree also ordered that, before prohibiting any book, the author should 
be cited, that his defence might be heard. In 1670, during the administration of 
Aranda, the power of the inquisition was limited to the punishment of obstinate her- 
etics and apostates, and it was forbidden to imprison any of the king's subjects, 
without first fully proving their guilt. In 1784, it was determined that, if the inqui- 
sition instituted a process against a grandee, a minister, or, in short, against any 
officer of rank, its acts must be subjected to the royal inspection. If we consider 
the principal acts of the inquisition during the eighteenth century, we shall see that, 
notwithstanding the restraint exercised over it, it still remained an instrument which, 
under favorable circumstances, might exert a terrible influence. There were sixteen 
provincial inquisitions in Spain and the colonies, all subject to the supreme tribunal. 
As late as 1763, we find that, at an auto dafe at Llerena, some obstinate heretics 
were committed to the flames, and in 1777, the inquisition armed itself with all its 
terrors against a man who was guilty of nothing more than imprudence — the cele- 
brated Olavides ; and in 1780, a poor woman of Seville was declared guilty of 
witchcraft, and was burnt alive at the stake. 

With all the limits which had been set to its power, and with all the mildness of 
the tribunal, whose principal officers, under the preceding reigns, had been mostly 
men of intelligence and moderation, still the odious spirit of the institution, and the 
unjust form of proceedure, survived ; and until the moment when it was abolished by 
Napoleon, on the 4ih of December, 1808, the inquisition continued to be a powerful 
obstacle to the progress of the human intellect. The inquisition published annually 
a catalogue of prohibited books, in which, among some infidel and immoral works, 
many excellent or innocent books were included. All the attempts of enlightened 
men toward effecting the destruction of this antiquated instrument of a dark policy 
during the two previous reigns were without connexion, and therefore without eff'ect, 
and they sunk under the artifices which an all-powerful favorite, the clergy and the 
inquisition, employed for their common advantage. The process, concluded as late 
as 1806, against two learned and excellent canons, Antonio and Geronimo Cuesta, 
whose destruction their unworthy bishop, under the protection of the prince of peace, 
had striven to effect, was the last sign of life in this terrible court, and plainly shows 
that intrigue, when united with the secret power of the inquisition, had great influ- 
ence in Spain, even in recent times; and the decision of the king, which declared 
the accused innocent, and condemned the proceedings of the inquisition as contrary 
to law, was yet tender toward the inquisitors, and confirmed the general opmion, 
which punished those who had fallen into the power of the inquisition with the loss 
of public esteem. According to the estimate of Llorente, the number of victims of 
the Spanish inquisition, from 1481 to 1808, amounted to 341,027. Of these, 31,912 
were burnt, 17,659 burnt in effigy, and 291,456 were subjected to severe penance. 
Ferdinand VII. re-established, in 1814, the inquisition, which had been abolished 
during the French rule in Spain ; but, on the adoption of the constitution of the cor- 
tes in 1820, it was again abolished, and was not revived in 1823, by the advice of the 
European powers. 

In Portugal, the inquisition was established, after a long contest, in 1557. The 
supreme tribunal was in Lisbon ; inferior courts, established in the other cities, were 
subject to this. The grand inquisitor was nominated by the king, and confirmed by 
the pope. John of Braganza, after the delivery of the country from the Spanish yoke, 
wished to destroy the inquisition. But he succeeded only in depriving it of the right 
of confiscating the property of the condemned. On this account he was excommu- 
nicated after his death, and his wife was obliged to permit his body to receive abso- 
lution. As the Spaniards took the inquisition with them to America, so the Poriu- 



240 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



guese carried it to India, and established it at Goa ; and in the accompanying engra- 
ving a view is given of the procession of the members of this tribunal, from the 
church of St. Augustine in this city. It is considered the finest specimen of European 
architecture in any part of India. 




Procession of the Inquisition. 

In the eighteenth century, the power of the inquisition in Portugal was restrained 
by the ordinance whiclt commanded that the accuser of the court should furnish the 
accused with the heads of the accusation and the names of the witnesses, that the 
accused should be allowed to have the aid of counsel, and that no sentence of the 
inquisition should be executed until confirmed by the royal council. The late king 
abolished the inquisition, not only in Portugal, but also in Brazil and the East Indies, 
and caused all its records at Goa to be burnt. The inquisition restored in Rome by 
Pius VII. has jurisdiction only over the clergy, and is not therefore dangerous to 
those who are not catholics. In 1826 it condemned to death Caschiur, a pupil of 
the propaganda, who was appointed patriarch of Memphis, but not accepted by the 
viceroy of Egypt. The pope changed the punishment into imprisonment for life, 
and the nature of his crime is unknown. 




CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 241 



CHAPTER XL— ITALY. 



This fertile portion of Europe was once the seat of universal empire, but since the 
overthrow of the Roman power it has never formed an independent whole. The 
pride of its inhabitants and the admiration of foreigners, on account of its delicious 
climate and former celebrity, is a narrow peninsula, extending from the Alps into 
the Mediterranean sea, which, on the east side of Italy, is called the Adriatic, on the 
west the Tuscan sea. The Apennines, rising near the maritime Alps, are the prin- 
cipal chain of mountains, and stretch through the country, dividing Lombardy from 
the Genoese territories and Tuscany, and Tuscany from Romagna, intersecting the 
States of the Church, and running through the kingdom of Naples to the straits of 
Messina. 

Upper Italy is remarkably well watered. The Po, which receives a great number 
of rivers from the large lakes at the foot of the Alps (Lago Maggiore, di Lugano, di 
Como, d'lseo, and di Garda), and the Adige, are the principal rivers. They both 
rise in the Alps, and flow into the Adriatic sea. In Middle Italy are the Arno and 
the Tiber, which rise in the Apennines, and flow into the Tuscan sea. In Lower 
Italy, or Naples, there are no large rivers, on account of the shormess of the courses 
of the streams from the mountains to the sea : the Garigliano is the principal. The 
climate is warm without excessive heat, and generally salubrious. The winter, even 
in Upper Italy, is very mild,. and in Naples snow is seldom seen. The abundance 
and excellence of the productions of the soil correspond with the beauty of the cli- 
mate. In many places, both of the north and south, there are two, and even three, 
crops a year. 

The volcanic character of the coasts of Lower Italy is particularly remarkable in 
a geological point of view, especially in the region of Puzzuoli and Vesuvius. The 
neighboring islands of the Mediterranean are distinguished by the same peculiarity. 

The national character of the Italians, naturally cheerful, but always marked by 
strong passions, has been rendered by continued oppression dissembling and selfish. 
The Italian, moreover, possesses a certain acuteness and versatility, as well as a love 
of money, which stamp him for a merchant. In the middle ages, Venice, Genoa,. 
Florence, and Pisa, were the chief marts of the European commerce with the East. 
Indies ; and Italians (then called Lombards, without distinction, in Germany, France,, 
and England) were scattered all over Europe for the purposes of trade. The discov- 
ery of a passage by sea deprived them of the Indian trade, and the prosperity of those 
republics declined. The Italian, restricted almost solely to traffic in the productions 
of his own country, has nevertheless always remained an active merchant. 

Before Rome had absorbed all the vital power of Italy, this country was thickly 
inhabited, and for the most part by civilized nations. In the north of Italy alone,, 
which offered the longest resistance to the Romans, dwelt the Gauls. Further south, 
on the Arno and the Tiber, a number of small tribes, such as the Etrusci, the Sam- 
mies, and Latins, endeavored to find safety by forming confederacies. Less closely 
united, and often hostile to each other, were the Greek colonies of Lower Italy,, 
called Magna Graecia. The story of the subjection of these nations to the Roman 
ambition belongs to the history of Rome. 

Italy, in the middle ages, was divided into Upper, Middle, and Lower Italy. The 
first division comprehended all the states situated in the basin of the Po ; the second 
extended between the former and the kingdom of Naples, which formed the third. 
At present it is divided into the following independent states, which are not connected 
with each other by any political tie: 1, the kingdom of Sardinia ; 2, Lombardy, or 
Austrian Italy (including Milan and Venice) ; 3, the duchy of Parma; 4, the duchy 
of Modena (including Massa) ; 5, the grandduchy of Tuscany ; 6, the duchy of Luc- 
ca ; 7, the republic of San Marino ; 8, the papal dominions ; 9, the kingdom of Na- 
ples or the Two Sicilies. 

Italia did not become the general name of this country until the age of Augustus. 
It had been early imperfectly known to the Greeks under the name of Hesperia. 
Ausonia, Saturnia, and CEnotria, were also names applied by them to the southern 
part, with which alone they were at first acquainted. The name Italia was at first 

16 



242 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



merely a partial name for the southern extremity, until it was gradually extended to 
the whole country. 

Italy depends almost solely on its agriculture for subsistence; the sources from 
which it formerly drew its support, the arts, manufactures, and commerce, being al- 
most dried up. Commerce with foreign countries, which, in Naples especially, is 
altogether stagnant, is for the most part, in the hands of foreigners, and, in a great 
measure, dependent on the British ; thence the universal want of specie, the finan- 
cial embarrassments of the governments, and the loans negotiated with Rothschild. 
Italy no longer lives, as formerly, on her cities, but on her soil. And even this source 
of prosperity maintains but a feeble existence, while taxes and tariffs impede the 
exportation of the staple production to foreign countries, or bands of banditti, and 
the want of good roads, obstruct internal intercourse, as in Sicily and Calabria, 
■^he natural advantages of Italy entitle her to the highest rank in agriculture, com- 
merce, and the arts ; but all branches of industry groan under political oppression. 
The government and people look on each other with jealousy and hate, and the ec- 
clesiastical establishment poisons the springs of national activity. A political ex 
citement is continually kept up by means of secret societies, which are found, also, 
in Spain and Switzerland, under different appellations. The celebrated count La 
Maistre was, for a long time, in Piedmont, the head of these malcontents who 
sought to accomplish desperate, ambitious plans, while apparently zealous in the 
cause of religion or morality. Even the Calderari, in Naples, whose head was the 
ex-minister of the police. Prince Canosa, have become one with the Sanfedists, who 
were connected with the gouvernemente occulte (as it was denominated} of France. 
These ultras hate even Austria, because it seems to act with too great moderation. 
The grand-duke of Tuscany is a man of lenient principles, and in that country, not 
a single Tuscan has been brought to account for political transgressions. 

The present political divisions of Italy, and the amount of population in 1827, are 
given in the accompanying table. "We have selected the population of that period, 
as it is the latest which has the stamp of authenticity. 



Political Divisions. 


Square miles 
—60 to deg. 


Population in 

1827. 


Army in 1827. 


Independent Italy 

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies .... 

Kingdom of Sardinia 

States of the Church . 

Grand Duchy of Tuscany . . . , . 

Duchy of Parma 

Duchy of Modena, with Massa and 
Carrara 


72,902 
31,800 
18,180 
13,000 
6,324 
1,660 

1,571 

312 

17 

38 

22,030 

17,800 
2,852 

1,250 

128 


16,060,500 
7,420,000 
3,800,000 
2,590,000 
1,275,000 
440,000 

379,000 

r43,000 

7,000 

6,500 

5,337,000 

4,930,000 
185,000 

126,000 
96,000 


66,940 

30,000 

23,000 

6,000 

4,000 

1,320 

1,780 

800 

40 

52,120 
50,000 

2,120 


Duchy of Lucca 

Republic of San Marino ..... 
Principality of Monaco ...... 

Italy subject to Foreign Powers . . . 

Austrian Italy (the Lombardo-Venetian 
kingdom, Italian Tyrol, and part of 
the government of Trieste) .... 

French Italy (island of Corsica) . . . 

Swiss Italy (canton of Tessin, some 
parts of the Grisons, and of the Va- 
lais) 

English Italy (the group of Malta) . . 

Total 


94,932 


21,397,500 


119,060 



The boundaries of the Italian language can not be given with precision. In the 
north, toward Switzerland, Tyrol, and the other neighboring countries, the A^alleys 
in which German, Italian, and dialects of the ancient Roman language, are spoken. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY, 243 

they alternate with each other. Even the sea is not a definite limit. On account of 
the early extension of the Italians over the islands of the Mediterranean, including 
those of Greece and the coasts of the Grecian mainland, it is not easy to determine 
where the last Italian sound is heard. It is spoken, more or less corrupted, in all the 
ports of the Mediterranean, Christian and Turkish. Of late, hoAvever, the Italian 
language has lost ground on many islands, as, for instance, on the Ionian islands. 
The origin of this beautiful and most harmonious tongue, is also lost in obscurity. 
The general opinion, that the Italian originated from a mixture of the classical Latin 
with the languages of the barbarians who overran Italy, is erroneous. The Roman 
literary language, which the scholar learns from Horace and Cicero, was not the dia- 
lect of the common people. That the former could not have been corrupted by the 
mixture of the barbarous languages, is proved by the fact, that Latin was written in 
the beginning of the middle ages, long before the revival of learning, with a surpri- 
sing purity, considering the circumstances. After the language of common life had 
been entirely changed by the invasion of the northern tribes, in its whole spirit rather 
than by the mere admixture of foreign words, then a new language of literature was 
formed, though the classical Roman still continued to be used. The new language 
was opposed to the variety of dialects which had grown out of common life ; the 
formation of it, however, was slow, because the learned and the poets, from whom ii; 
was necessary to receive its stamp and development, despised it as an intruder on the 
Latin, which was venerable, as well by its age and the treasures handed down in it, 
as on account of the recollections of former greatness, with which the suffering 
Italians were fond of flattering themselves. Even down to the present day, that 
idiom, the melody of which carries us away in the most unimportant author, is not 
to be found as the common idiom of the people in any part of Italy. It is a mistake 
to suppose that Boccaccio's language is to be heard from the lips of Tuscan peasant- 
girls or Florentine porters. Even the Tuscan and Florentine dialect differs from the 
pure language, which, during the first centuries of Italian literature, is found purer 
in the poets of Sicily and Naples than in the contemporary writers of Tuscany. The 
circumstance, that the most distinguished Italian poets and prose-writers were born 
in Florence,, and the authority assumed by later Tuscan academies, particularly the 
Crusca, are the causes why the Tuscan dialect, in spite of its rough gutturals, which 
are intolerable to the other Italians, became predominant in the language of litera- 
ture. Dante, the creator, as it were, of Italian prose and poetry, and whose works 
are full of peculiarities of different dialects, distinctly maintains, in a treatise, " De 
vulgari Eloquentia,'''' that it is inadmissible to attempt to raise a dialect to a literary 
language. Dante, indeed, distinguishes in the lingua volgare (so the language was 
called which originated after the invasion of the barbarians) a volgare illustre, car- 




Boccaccio. Dante. Tasso. 

Ariosto. Petrarch. 

Tassoni. Galileo. Machiavelli. Pulci. 
MarinL Guarini. 



244 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



dmale aulicum, curiale ; but this sufficiently proves that he held the opinion above 
stated. Fernow mentions fifteen chief dialects, of which the Tuscan has six subdi- 
visions. Those dialects in which no literary productions exist, are not enumerated. 
The Italian, as we find it at present, in literature and with the well-educated, is es- 
sentially a Latin dialect. Its stock is Latin, changed, to be sure, in its grammar and 
construction, by the infusion of the modern spirit into the antique, as the character 
of the people underwent the same change. A number of Latin forms of words, 
which, even in the time of the Ramans, existed in common language, have been, by 
the course of time and revolutions in literature, elevated to a grammatical rank ; and 
the same is very probably true of forms of phraseology. In many instances, the 
Italian exhibits changes in the Latin forms, which have evidently taken place in the 
same way in which common people, in our days, corrupt the correct modes of speech 
by a rapid, or slurred, or mistaken pronunciation. 

Genoa is a maritime city in Italy, and the capital of a province in the Sardinian 
states. On the land side the city is surrounded by a double line of fortifications ; the 
outer ones are extended beyond the hills which overlook the city. The harbor is 
enclosed and made secure by two moles, and the city lies in a semicircular form 
around it. This city has been frequently styled the magnificent, partly because of 
the beauty of its situation, and partly on account of the splendid palaces of the wealthy 
nobility. From the sea Genoa presents a very imposing appearance ; but, notwith- 
standing its numerous palaces, it can scarcely be pronounced really beautiful, for, in 
consequence of its confined site, and of its being built on a declivity, the streets are 
frequently narrow, and so steep, that but ievr of them can be passed in carriages or 
on horseback. There are, however, several remarkable exceptions, as, for instance, 
the Strada Nuovissima, the Strada Balbi, and the Strada Nuova. These streets pos- 
sess both regularity and beauty : the edifices, or rather palaces, are built of fine mar- 
ble (which is obtained in large quantities from the neighboring quarries), and display 
not only the attractions of architecture, but the interiors are richly ornamented with 
paintings and sculptures by the first masters. The principal of these palaces are 
the Durazzo, Doria, Sera, Lercari, Carrega, and Balbi. The palazzo della Signora 
was the ancient palace of the doge. 

The arsenal is situated in its immediate vicinity, and its neighborhood contains 
many ancient military and naval trophies, the most celebrated of which is the ros- 
trum of an ancient galley. It is placed over the principal gate, and is supposed to 
be the only complete one now extant. Its length is about three spans, and its greatest 
thickness, two thirds of a foot. It was discovered in 1597, while cleaning the har- 
bor. In the accompanying engraving is given a view of this interesting specimen of 
ancient naval architecture. 




Rostrum of au Ancient Galley. 



The cathedral, dedicated to St. Lorenzo, is a Gothic structure, incrusted and paved 
with marble, and adorned with a crucifixion by Barocchio. The bones of St. John 
Baptist are said to be deposited in one of the chapels in an iron urn, and in the sa- 
cristie is still preserved the vase of emerald said to have been given to Solomon by 
the queen of Sheba. 

The Annunziata, though built at the sole expense of the Lomellino family, is one 
of the most costly churches in Genoa, and contains a fine picture of the LastSupper, 
by G. C. Procaccino. 

St. Maria in Carignano, built in obedience to the will of Bendinelli Sauli, a noble 
Genoese, is an elegant piece of architecture ; and the magnificent bridge, leading to 
it, was erected by a son of the abovenamed nobleman. This bridge contains seven 
arches, and is so lofty that from it you look down on houses seven stories high. The 
church contains a statue of St. Sebastiano, by Puget ; another of the beatified Ales- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



245 




246 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

sandro Sauli, by the same artist ; and an interesting picture of St. Peter and St. John 
curing the Paralytic, by D. Pick. 

St. Ambroggio is adorned with three celebrated pictures, namely, the Assumption, 
by Guido ; St. Ignatius exorcising a demoniac, and raising the dead, by Rubens ; 
and the Circumcision, by the same master. 

St. Domenico contains a picture of the Circumcision, by Procaccino ; and the ceil- 
ing of the sanctuary is by Cappuccino. 

St. Filippo Neri is a handsome church, the ceiling of which was painted by Fran- 
ceschini, and in the oratory is a statue of the Madonna, by Puget. 

St. Matteo, built by the Doria family, contains sepulchral monuments by Mont- 
Orsoli ; a high-altar of Florentine work ; and, behind it, a much-admired Piela. 

St. G-iovanni in Vecchio is adorned with a picture by Vandyck. 

St. Francesco di Castelleto contains a. celebrated picture by Tintoretto, together 
with bronze statues and bassi-relievi by Giovanni di Bologna. 

St. Stefano alle Pone contains a picture representing the martyrdom of St. Stephen, 
the upper part painted by Giulio Romano, the lower part by Raphael. 

The Palazzo-Durazzo, Strada-Balbi, contains noble rooms, splendidly furnished, 
and a large collection of pictures, among which are celebrated works of Vandyck 
and Rubens, and the Magdalene at our Savior's feet, by Paolo Veronese. 

The University is a fine building, and contains in its vestibule two lions of marble, 
which are much admired. 

The Palazzo-Doria, Strada-Nuova, is a magnificent edifice in point of architecture. 

The Palazzo-Rosso contains fine pictures, among which are three portraits by Van- 
dyck ; Judith putting the head of Holofernes in a bag, by Paolo Veronese ; an Old 
Man Reading, by Spagnoletto ; the Madonna, by Cappuccino; the Adoration of the 
Shepherds, by Bassano ; our Savior in the Garden of Olives, by the same ; Clorinda 
delivering the Christians, by Caravaggio ; the Resurrection of Lazarus, by the same ; 
Cleopatra, by Guercino ; and several works, both in painting and sculpture, by 
Parodi. 

The Palazzo-Brignole, opposite to the Palazzo-Rosso, contains fine pictures ; and 
the Palazzo-Serra boasts a saloon deemed one of the most sumptuous apartments in 
Europe. It cost a million, and is all marble, gold, and mirrors. 

The Palazzo-Carega was built after the design of Buonaroti; as was the Palazzo^ 
Pallavicino, at Zerbino. 

The Great Hospital is a noble establishment for the sick of all nations ; and like- 
wise for foundlings, the boys remaining till they are able to work, the girls still 
longer. The number of sick received into this hospital has frequently exceeded one 
thousand, and the number of foundlings three thousand. The Hospital of Incurables 
likewise is a noble establishment. 

The Albergo dei Poveri, perhaps the most magnificent hospital in Europe, stands 
upon a lofty eminence, and was founded by a nobleman of the Brignoli family, to 
serve as an asylum for upward of a thousand persons, from age and other causes, re- 
duced to want. The chapel is handsome, and contains a basso-relievo, by Buona- 
roti, of the Madonna contemplating the dead body of our Savior ; and here, likewise, 
is an Assumption, in marble, by Puget. 

The Theatre of St. Agostino is much admired with respect to its architecture, as 
indeed are a considerable number of buildings which are not enumerated ; but, 
though no city of Italy boasts so many splendid edifices as Genoa, though all these 
edifices are built of marble, and though the Strada-Nuova, the Strada-Nuovissima, 
and the Strada-Balbi, are strikingly magnificent, the narrowness of the other streets, 
and the want of spacious squares, gives an air of melancholy to the town in general : 
its environs, however, are exempt from this defect, and display a delightful union of 
grandeur and cheerfulness, the whole road to Sestri, a distance of six miles, exhibit- 
ing one continued line of villas, nearly equal, in size and elegance, to the palaces 
v/ithin the city. 

Genoa contains good hotels ; and its population, including the inhabitants of San 
Pietro d'Arena, is supposed to amount to eighty thousand. 

An Italian proverb says of this city, " that it has sea without fish, land without 
trees, and men without faith :" the provisions, however, not excepting fish, are ex- 
cellent, but the wine is bad, and the climate by no means a good one. The country, 
though, like.Italy in general, thinly wooded, is in some parts romantic and beautiful ; 
but as to the people, they certainly vie in faith with their Ligurian ancestors. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 247 

The nobles are ill-educated, and seldom fond of literature. They rarely inhabit 
the best apartments of their superb palaces, but are said to like a splendid table ; 
though their chief gratification has always consisted in amassing wealth, for the 
laudable purpose of expending it on public works and public charities. 

The common people are active and industrious ; and the velvets, damasks, and ar- 
tificial flowers, of Genoa, have long been celebrated. 

The harbor of Genoa is in the form of a semicircle, whose diameter is about one 
thousand fathoms. It is enclosed by two strong moles, II Molo Vecchio on the east 
side, and II Molo Nuovo on the west. The water is deepest at the new mole, and 
can admit ships of eighty guns. The mouth of the harbor, or the opening between 
the two moles, is three hundred and fifty fathoms in width, but the entrance is diffi- 
cult, and the direction from east to west must be taken with great care. The harbor 
is also inadequately protected from the southwest wind. In the centre of the large 
harbor is a smaller one called Darsena, used for refitting and preserving the national 
galleys. Two towers are erected on the moles, one as a lighthouse, the other for 
the defence of the harbor. A thick wall runs along the quays between the houses 
and the harbor, which entirely conceals the latter from view. The new mole adjoins 
St. Pietro d'Arena, an elegant suburb of the city. The principal public walks are 
the quay, the square of Aqua Verde, the walls of the harbor, and the alleys of Aqua 
Sola. A favorite amusement of the inhabitants is that of sailing out of the harbor 
of Genoa about two or three miles, and enjoying from the water the magnificent view 
of the city and its environs. 

Genoa still retains a considerable degree of commercial activity, though less than 
what it possessed in the middle ages. It exports the produce of the adjacent country, 
as olive oil, grain, and various sorts of fruit. The manufactures are of some impor- 
tance, particularly the black stuffs, velvet, damask, and stockings, which employ 
about fifteen hundred looms ; also of cloth, cotton hose, hats, maccaroni, candied 
fruits, chocolate, whitelead, fee. The silk is obtained partly in the province itself, 
and is also brought from the rest of Italy, especially Calabria, Sicily, the island of 
Cyprus, and the Levant. 

Genoa is now the seat of an archbishop, and possesses a senate, a high court, and 
a commercial tribunal. This city is 77 miles southeast of Turin, and 450 southeast 
of Paris. 

Pisa is one of the most ancient and beautiful cities of Italy, in the grand-duchy of 
Tuscany, and stands in a fertile plain, about eight miles from the entrance of the 
Arno into the sea. The air is tolerably healthy and mild. Instead of the 150,000 
inhabitants which it formerly contained, the city now numbers scarcely 17,000. 
Silence and solitude reign here as in the other great cities of Italy which have fin- 
ished their part in history. The Arno divides the city into two nearly equal parts, 
connected by three bridges, and the two great quays are adorned with edifices in the 
noblest style, whose fortified appearance recalls the warlike days of the republic. 
The streets are mostly wide, straight, and well-paved ; but the grass, growing be- 
tween the stones, is a melancholy mark of depopulation. 

" The object," says a distinguished traveller, " which attracts the eye on entering 
Pisa, is that wonder of the world, the leaning tower; by far the most curious and 
interesting of the famous towers of Italy. It is a round structure, nearly one hun- 
dred and ninety feet high, and it leans thirteen feet. It is eight stories high ; each 
story is supported by columns, of which there are two hundred and eight in all, of 
every variety of material, of granite, and of every kind of marble, of every order of 
architecture, Doric, Grecian, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite, &c., probably taken 
from ancient buildings, affording a rich treat to the architect and antiquary. The 
construction is curious ; it was built at three different periods, having been com- 
menced about the year 1174. The stories do not all lean equally ; the fourth leans 
in a greater degree than the others, while the eighth, if not perfectly erect, inclines 
a little to the other side. By far the most interesting question arising with regard to 
I this tower, is, was it built leaning ? or is this the effect of natural causes ? Rejecting 
the supposition that an earthquake caused it to fall into this position (because the 
shock of an earthquake necessary to produce this effect, would have produced more 
than the leaning), I think that the ground has sunk, for the following reasons : 1st, 
the laws of gravity were not then known, consequently the architect can not be pre- 
sumed to have been acquainted with them ; if he built this totver leaning, he ought 
certainly to have presumed it would /a//; 2d, the steps are not erect, they also lean 



248 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

surely these would have been erect, if the tower was built leaning ; besides, excava- 
tions have discovered that the steps extend all around, which would be useless if the 
tower was built as it now exists ; 3d, in a picture of the tower in the Campo Santo, it is 
perfectly erect, but with seven stories only ; and 4th, this declination from the per- 
pendicular exists not only with regard to the tower, but is found, also, in regard to 
the Duomo and Baptistery, which stand at the side. Be that as it may, however, this 
white marble tower is very curious, and the view from the top, fine. 

" Near this is the cathedral, built in the Gothic style, very rich in the profusion of 
marbles with which it is adorned in columns and blocks. One front is built with an 
immense number, among which are some that are twisted ; others are of porphyry ; 
six, which support the frame of the doors, are of white marble, worked very much, 
and thought to be ancient. The doors themselves are of bronze, curiously worked 
in relief, exhibiting the facts related with regard to the Madonna, &c. The church 
inside is ornamented with seventy-four columns, very lofty, sixty-two of granite, the 
others of rare marble. The altars are richly ornamented with lapis lazuli, agate, 
&c. The roof is formed in mosaic, while every occasion is taken to dispose of an 
immense number of small columns of verde antique, and the richest kind of por- 
phyry. This church is called magnificent ; its splendor consists in the profusion and 
variety of the marbles ; yet to me, it did not appear worthy of the praise bestowed 
upon it, for I could see little beauty in the want of uniformity seen there ; thus, of 
three pillars, one would be twisted, the two others straight ; one of white, a second 
of yellow, a third of green marble ; one would be worked, the two others plain ; so 
with all. 

" Continuing your walk, within a stone's throw of the cathedral is another build- 
ing of white marble, octagonal, in the German-Gothic style, erected about the twelfth 
century, called the Baptistery, built in the time of the prosperity of the city, at the 
expense of the inhabitants, who each paid a florin toward it. The inside is built 
like one of the ancient temples ; eight large columns of granite support twelve 
arches, while the cupola, which is very handsome, is supported by four pilasters of 
white marble. The pulpit is handsome, and is sustained by eight pillars of rare 
marble ; the body of the pulpit is of white marble and oriental alabaster, beauti- 
fully carved, and representing the birth of the Savior, the adoration of the magi, his 
presentation in the temple, his crucifixion, and the last judgment, which is exceed- 
ingly curious. In the centre of the building is the font, containing four places for the 
immersion of infants, Avhile that in the centre is for adults ; but I believe this prac- 
tice is now discontinued. 

" In the rear of the Duomo, or cathedral, is the most curious edifice upon this square, 
viz., Campo Santo, which is rectangular. Some earth, which was brought from the 
holy land, is surrounded by sixty-two arcades, in the Gothic style, of white marble, 
while this walk is paved with large stones of the same material. In these arcades, 
the walls are painted in fresco, and as it was built in the years 1218,-'S3, these 
paintings were executed before this art had reached the perfection it afterward at- 
tained. These paintings a,re by far the most curious one meets with in Italy, and 
such absurdity, such want of all knowledge of anatomy, perspective, everything ! 
God himself is represented as rather an ugly man, pulling Eve, a large, masculine- 
looking figure, out of a cut in Adani's side. The last judgment, however, displays 
a deal of imagination, and the tortures in which he has represented the wicked are 
truly damnable. One fellow has a large spit through him, &c. Independent of the 
pictures, this place presents an attraction to the antiquarian, as several sarcophagi, 
vases, &:c., are preserved, on which it is easy to trace the progress of the ancients in 
sculpture ; an ancient Roman milestone, the griffin, thought to be Egyptian, for- 
merly placed on the Duomo, &c., are also seen here. In this place it is said there 
are five hundred nobles buried. 

"With the exception of these four remarkable buildings, there is little to detain 
the stranger at Pisa. There are numerous churches ; thus ' Delia Spina' attracts, 
by its Gothic exterior. It was built by a beggar. The others contain the usual as- 
sortment of ' pieces of the true cross,' finger and toe-bones of the different saints set' 
in gold, fine pictures and statues. That of St. Stefano contains an organ, said to be 
the finest in Europe. The walls are decorated with trophies, standards, and cres- 
cents, taken from the Mohammedans, while in a sarcophagus of porphyry rest the 
bones of St. Stephen. Among the palaces we notice that inhabited by Lord Byron. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



249 




250 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Pisa also contains antiquities ; the most remarkable is a brick building, said to liave 
been used as a vapor bath ; now, however, the floor was covered with oranges." 

Several palaces, and the Loggia de' Mercanti, are worthy of notice. An edifice is 
still shown as the tower of famine, in which Ugolino della Gherardesca perished, in 
1283, with his children. The original tower, however, no longer exists, but the fam- 
ily of Gherardesca was extant at Pisa in 1798. The university is old, and has al- 
ways possessed celebrated professors. The observatory and the garden are in the 
best condition. There are in the city an academia Italiana, a physico-medical col- 
lege, cabinets of art, and, in the vicinity, an agricultural establishment. The refine- 
ment and kindness of the inhabitants make a residence in Pisa delightful to a 
stranger. At a little distance from the city, at the foot of Monte S. Giuliano, and 
named after this mountain, are the Pisan baths. Twelve warm sulphur springs are 
enclosed in large, convenient buildings, in which provision is made for all the wants 
of the visiters. The baths are not, however, in so high repute as they were in the 
middle of the last century. The splendid Carthusian monastery near Pisa is also 
worth seeing. The trade and manufactures of the place are of little importance. 
Large quantities of oil, which is but little inferior in quality to the oil of Lucca, is 
made here ; the fields and hills are well cultivated, and the marble quarries in the 
neighborhood are among the finest in Italy. 

Pisa was a flourishing republic in the middle ages, and owed its prosperity to the 
great love of liberty, and the active commercial spirit, which distinguished its citi- 
zens. From the Saracens the republic conquered Sardinia, Corsica, and the Beieares, 
and was styled the queen of the seas. Its territory on the Tyrrhene shore compre- 
hended the Maremma from Lerici to Piombino, which was at that time cultivated 
and very fruitful. By sea the rival of Venice and Genoa, she founded colonies in the 
Levant, and sent forty ships to aid the king of Jerusalem. Faithful as a zealous 
Gibeline to the emperor, involved in a bloody struggle with the Guelfic Florence, 
with Lucca and Sienna, which adhered to the pope, an object of jealousy to all her 
neighbors, overcome by Genoa in a bloody naval battle, and torn by the internal dis- 
sensions of powerful families, she finally sunk under the jealousy and hatred of 
Florence. Ugolino, however, reigned but a short time over the city, which had 
been stripped of her fortresses. The courage with which 11,000 Pisans preferred 
to suffer sixteen years of severe imprisonment rather than surrender a fortified place 
to the enemy, sustained for a time the spirit of the republic, which, with its own 
arms, defeated the army of the Guelfs of all Italy. But, being exhausted, it finally 
put itself under the protection of Milan, and was soon after sold to Duke Galeazzo 
Visconti, from whose successors Florence obtained it by purchase, in 1406. The 
city was compelled to surrender by famine ; and those disposed to resist were kept 
in obedience by force. The larger part of the citizens emigrated. But after eighty- 
eight years of oppression, when Charles VIII. of France made an expedition into 
Italy, the ancient pride of Pisa was aroused, and, for fifteen years, she fought glori- 
ously for her liberty. Simon Orlandi called his fellow-citizens to arms, and the peo- 
ple, under the protection of Charles VIII., who took possession of Pisa by a treaty 
with Florence, adopted a constitution of their own. Then began an obstinate war 
between Florence and Pisa. The inhabitants of the latter city, with the aid of the 
French garrison, reconquered the ancient territory, and defeated the Florentine mer- 
cenaries. Their courage foiled every effort of their former sovereigns. "When the 
French garrison departed, they took the oath of allegiance to the French king as 
their protector. Pisa now became a place of importance. Princes and republics ne- 
gotiated, some for, some against the continuance of the revived republic. Abandoned 
at last by all, the Pisans swore to perish rather than submit to their hereditary ene- 
my. Florence had already made itself master of the Pisan territory, and, on the last 
of July, 1499, the siege of the city was commenced with such ardor, that, in a fort- 
night, the Florentines hoped to have it in their power. But the females of Pisa 
worked day and night to repair the walls; and the enemy having taken a castle by 
storm, they exhorted their disheartened citizens to die rather than become the slaves 
of the Florentines. By this spirit the city was saved, and the enemy, after great loss, 
raised the siege. The Pisans now changed their city into a formidable fortress. 
Even an army sent by Louis XII., king of France (who wished to subjugate Pisa for 
the Florentines), besieged it in vain. In 1504, the Florentines resumed the siege of 
Pisa. They attempted to dam up the Arno above the city, but had to relinquish the 
plan after great expense. A third siege, in 1505, was equally unavailing. The city 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 251 

was finally (June 8, 1509) reduced by famine, and submitted to the Florentines, with 
an amnesty for the past. Thus Pisa, having frustrated four attacks, and asserted its 
freedom for fifteen years, fell into the power of the Florentines, and ceased for ever 
to be independent. On its ruins was founded the power of Tuscany. 

Among the distinguished men born at Pisa was the celebrated Galileo Galilei, 
who was born in 1564. His family, which, till the middle of the fourteenth century, 
had borne the name of Bonajuti, was ancient and noble, but not wealthy ; and his 
father, Vincenzo Galilei, appears to have been a person of very superior talents and 
accomplishments. He is the author of several treatises upon music, which show 
him to have been master both of the theory and practice of that art. Galileo was 
the eldest of a family of six children, three sons and three daughters. His boyhood, 
like that of Newton, and of many other distinguished cultivators of matheniaiical 
and physical science, evinced the natural bent of his genius by various mechanical 
contrivances which he produced ; and he also showed a strong predilection and de- 
cided talent both for music and painting. It was resolved, however, that he should 
be educated for the medical profession : and with that view he was, in 1581, entered 
at the university of his native town. He appears to have applied himself, for some 
time, to the study of medicine. We have an interesting evidence of the degree in 
which his mind was divided between this new pursuit and its original turn for me- 
chanical observation and invention, in the history of his first great discovery, that of 
the isochronism (or equal-tiraedness, as it might be translated) of the vibrations of 
the pendulum. The suspicion of this curious and most important fact was first sug- 
gested to Galileo while he was attending college, by the motions of a lamp swinging 
from the roof of the cathedral. It immediately occurred to him that here was an ex- 
cellent means of ascertaining the rate of the pulse ; and, accordingly, after he had 
verified the matter by experiment, this was the first, and for a long time the only, 
application which he made„of his discovery. He contrived several little instruments 
for counting the pulse by the vibrations of a pendulum, which soon came into general 
use, under the name of pulsilogies ; and it was not till after many years that it was 
employed as a general measure of time. It was probably after this discovery tha 
Galileo began the study of mathematics. From that instant he seemed to have 
found his true field. So fascinated was he with the beautiful truths of geometry, 
that his medical books henceforth remained unopened, or were only spread out over 
his Euclid to hide it from his father, who was at first so much grieved by his son's 
absorption in his new study, that he positively prohibited him from any longer in- 
dulging in it. After some lime, however, seeing that his injunctions were insufficient 
to overcome the strong bias of nature, he yielded the point, and Galileo was permit- 
ted to take his own way. Having mastered Euclid, he now proceeded to read the 
Hydrostatics of Archimedes ; after studying which he produced his first mathemati- 
cal Avork, an Essay on the Hydrostatical Balance. His reputation soon spread itself 
abroad ; and he was introduced to one of the ablest of the Italian mathematicians of 
that day, Guido Ubaldi, who, struck with his extraordinary knowledge and talents, 
recommended him to the good offices of his brother, the Cardinal del Monte ; and by 
the latter he was made known to the then Grand-Duke Ferdinand. The road to 
distinction was now open to him. In 1589 he was appointed to the office of lecturer 
on mathematics in the university of Pisa ; and this situation he retained till 1592, 
when he was nominated by the republic of Venice to be professor of mathematics 
for six years in their university of Padua. From the moment at which he received 
the first of these appointments, Galileo gave himself up entirely to science ; and, ^al- 
though his salary at first was not large, and he was consequently, in order to eke out 
his income, obliged to devote a great part of his time to private teaching, in addition 
to that consumed by his public duties, his incessant activity enabled him to accom- 
plish infinitely more than most other men would have been able to overtake in a life 
of uninterrupted leisure. The whole range of natural philosophy, as then existing, 
engaged his attention ; and besides reading, observation, and experiment, the compo- 
sition of numerous dissertations on his favorite subjects occupied his laborious days and 
nights. In 1598 he was reappointed to his professorship, with an increased salary ; 
and in 1606 he was nominated for the third time, with an additional augmentation. 
By this time he was so popular as a lecturer, and was attended by such throngs of 
auditors, that it is said he was frequently obliged to adjourn from the largest hall in 
the university, which held a thousand persons, to the open air. Among the services 
which he had already rendered lo science may be mentioned his contrivance of an 



252 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




Portrait of Galileo. 

instrument for finding proportional lines, similar to Gunter's scale, and his rediscov- 
ery of the thermometer, which seems to have been known to some of the ancient 
philosophers, but had long been entirely forgotten. But the year 1609 was the most 
momentous in the career of Galileo as an enlarger of the bounds of natural philoso- 
phy. It was in this year that he made his grand discovery of the telescopes-having 
been induced to turn his attention to the eflFect of a combination of magnifymg-glasses, 
by a report which was brought to him, while on a visit at Venice, of a wonderful in- 
strument constructed on some such principle, which had been sent to Italy from Hol- 
land. In point of fact, it appears that a rude species of telescope had been previously 
fabricated in that country ; but Galileo, who had never seen this contrivance, was 
undoubtedly the true and sole inventor of the instrument in that form in which alone 
it could be applied to any scientific use. The interest excited by this discovery trans- 
cended all that has ever been inspired by any of the other wonders of science. After 
having exhibited his new instrument for a few days, Galileo presented it to the sen- 
ate of Venice, who immediately re-elected him to his professorship for life, and 
doubled his salary, making it now one thousand florins. He then constructed another 
telescope for himself, and with that proceeded to examine the heavens. He had not 
long directed it to this, the field which has ever since been its principal domain, be- 
fore he was rewarded with a succession of brilliant discoveries. The four satellites 
or attendant moons of Jupiter revealed themselves for the first time to the human 
eye. Other stars unseen before met him in every quarter of the heavens to which he 
turned. Saturn showed his singular encompassing ring. The moon unveiled her 
seas and her mountains. The sun himself discovered spots of dark lying in the midst 
of his brightness. All these wonders were announced lo the world by Galileo in the 
successive numbers of a publication which he entitled the "■ Nuncius Siderevs, or In- 
telligence of the Heavens," a newspaper undoubtedly unrivalled for extraordinary 
tidings by any other that has ever appeared. In 1610 he was induced to resign his 
professorship at Padua, on the invitation of the grand-duke of Tuscany to accept of 
the appointment of his first mathematician and philosopher at Pisa. Soon after his 
removal thither, Galileo appears to have for the first time ventured upon openly 
teaching the Copernican system of the world, of the truth of which he had been 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 253 

many years before convinced. This bold step drew down upon the great philosopher 
a cruel and disgraceful persecution which terminated only with his life. An outcry 
was raised by the ignorant bigotry of the time, on the ground that in maintaining the 
doctrme of the earth's motion round the sun he was contradicting the language of 
scripture, where, it was said, the earth was constantly spoken of as at rest. The day 
is gone by when it would have been necessary to attempt any formal refutation of 
this absurd notion, founded as it is upon a total misapprehension of what the object 
of the Scriptures is,.which are intended to teach men morality and religion only, not 
matnematics or astronomy, and which would not have been even intelligible to those 
to whom they were first addressed, unless their language in regard to this and vari- 
ous other matters had been accommodated to the then universally prevailing opin- 
ions. In Galileo's day, however, the church of Rome had not learned to admit this 
very obvious consideration. In 1616, G-alileo, having gone to Rome on learnino- the 
hostility which was gathering against him, was graciously received by the pope, but 
was commanded to abstain in future from teaching the doctrines of Copernicus. For 
some years the matter was allowed to sleep, till in 1632 the philosopher published 
his celebrated Dialogue on the two Sj^stems of the World, the Ptolemaic and the 
Copernican, in which he took but little pains to disguise his thorough conviction of 
the truth of the latter. The rage of his enemies, who had been so long nearly silent 
now burst upon him in a terrific storm. The book was consigned to the inquisition^ 
before which formidable tribunal the author was forthwith summoned to appear' 
He arrived at Rome on the 14th of February, 1633. We have not space to relate 
the history of the process. It is doubtful whether or not Galileo was actually put to 
the torture, but it is certain that on the 21st of June he was found guilty of heresy, 
and condemned to abjuration and imprisonment. His actual confinement in the dun- 
geons of the Holy Office lasted only a few days ; and after some months he was 
allowed to return to his country-seat at Arcetri, near Florence, with a prohibition, 
however, against quitting that retirement, or even admitting the.visits of his friends. 
Galileo survived this treatment for several years, during which lie continued the ac- 
tive pursuit of his philosophical studies, and even sent to the press another important 
work, his Dialogues on the Laws of Motion. The rigor of his confinement, too, was 
alter some time much relaxed ; and although he never again left Arcetri (except once 
ior a few months), he was permitted to enjoy the society of his friends in his own 
house. But other misfortunes now crowded upon his old age. His health had long 
been bad, and his fits of illness were now more frequent and painful than ever. In 
1639 he was struck with total blindness. A few years before, the tie that bound him 
most strongly to life had been snapped by the death of his favorite daughter ; weighed 
down by these accumulated sorrows, on the 8th of January, 1642, the old man 
breathed his last at the advanced age of seventy-eight. 

Leghorn is a seaport town on the western coast of Italy, in the grand duchy of 
Tuscany. This town was almost entirely built by Ferdinand I., and afterward o-reatly 
improved by Cosmo IL The activity and bustle of this small place (which is not 
above two miles in circumference) are amazing. The streets, especially La Via 
Grande, are generally so crowded that travellers can with difficulty pass through 
them ; and Jews, Turks, Armenians, &c., are everywhere seen in collision with each 
other. A large canal unites Leghorn with the city of Pisa, which greatly facilitates 
the commercial affairs of the inhabitants. The principal object that merits attention 
in_ regard to sculpture is the celebrated pedestrian statue of Ferdinand I., in marble, 
with the four Turkish slaves in bronze chained to the pedestal, who attempting to 
steal a Tuscan vessel, were executed by order of this prince : they are all larger than 
life, and remarkably well done, particularly the slaves, whose countenances are 
marked with a savage ferocity. The harbor of Leghorn is not so good as that of 
Genoa or of Marseilles, but is capable of containing vessels of three hundred tons 
burden. There is an outer and inner harbor ; on the right is La Fontarezza Vecchia, 
in which the galley slaves are lodged ; these men are employed in the harbor or on 
shore, as occasion reqmres, with a chain to their legs, and sometimes two are chain- 
ed together ; when their crimes are heinous they are chained to the vessel in which 
they work. 

The church of the Dominicans has a large dome and cupola in the centre, formerly 
painted but now plain. Over the high altar is the history of St. Catherine, painted 
by a Livornese. In a chapel on the left is a curious recess, containing a representa- 
tion of the stable in which Christ was born, with the Virgin and many figures ; in 



254 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

the stable are cows, &c., and the whole has a very natural appearance. There 
are also in this church a number of recesses, each containing a figure of the Redeemer 
in various stages of his Passion. 

The next place which particularly demands attention is the English burying- 
ground.' This spot is about half a mile from the town, and enclosed with a handsome 
balustrade and railing, and no spot of its size can contain a greater number of elegant 
monuments and tombstones with inscriptions in various languages, as the subjects 
are of various nations, English, German, Swedes, Danes, &c., so that it may with 
more propriety be called the protestant, than the English burying-ground : among 
other inscriptions, is one in Italian, on Margaret Rolle, countess of Orford and 
baroness of Clinton ; this illustrious female died at Pisa, January 13, 1781. Here, 
in short, are confounded in one common mass, the nobleman and the merchant, 
mechanic and artist, husband and wife, father and child, especially the inhabitants 
of Smyrna, Aleppo, Constantinople, &c., arrested in their trading career by the cold 
and unsparing hand of death. 

Among the useful works at Leghorn, the aqueduct may be reckoned the first, 
which brings from the mountain Colognole, distant twelve miles, an excellent supply 
of good water. The aqueduct is about three miles from Leghorn, and that from 
the water is conducted under ground, covered over with arched brickwork. The 
new baths of Leghorn are finished with marble, at a great expense, and are well 
worth seeing ; they are between twenty and thirty in number. Near ihem is the 
gate of St. Mark, which is very handsome. The Greek protestant church consists 
of a nave and small choir enclosed as in that of Grseci Uniti. The roof is ornamented, 
and there is a considerable amount of gilding in various parts of this church. The 
sacramental vessels are very rich. 

Florence is the capital of the grand duchy of Tuscany, and one of the most cele- 
brated cities of Europe. It owes much to the beauty of its situation, combined with 
the treasures of art which it contains, particularly in the departments of architecture 
and painting, aided*by the remarkable historical events of which it has been the 
theatre. In viewing this far-famed city, with its magnificent edifices, fine architec- 
ture, and antique buildings, rising in dark and imposing beauty, its bridges, and its 
noble river, watering, as far as the eye can reach, the vale of the lovely Arno, the 
mind insensibly wanders back, and recals the days when turbulence and bloody 
feuds raged within its walls ; when, on the surrounding amphitheatre of hills, now 
luxuriant v/ith the olive and the vine, and richly studded with peaceful dwellings, 
stood proudly frowning the castellated towers of the feudal chiefs, who were at once 
the terror and protection of the city. Of these towers scarcely a trace now remains ; 
but to this day Florence bears the aspect of a city filled with nobles — a city of 
churches and palaces. 

Florence is divided into two unequal parts by the Arno, over which there are 
four bridges, one of which, the Trinity, is entirely built of white marble, and is much 
admired for the lightness and beauty of its appearance. The quay, with the build- 
ings on each side, and the bridges through which the river flows, renders that part 
of the city by far the most attractive. Among its numerous palaces is the Palazzo 
Vecchio, which is adorned with a tower so lofty that it is deemed a chef-d'oeuvre of 
architecture. It was built by Arnolfo, the disciple of Cimabue : and, before the en- 
trance to this palace, is a statue in marble, of David, supposed to be in the act of 
slaying Goliath, by Buonaroti ; and a group, likewise, in marble, of Hercules slaying 
Cacus, by Bandinelli. On the ceiling and walls of the great hall are frescoes of the 
most celebrated actions of the Florentine Republic and the house of Medicis, all by 
Vasari ; except four pictures in oil, one representing the coronation of Cosimo I., by 
Ligozzi; another, the twelve Florentines, at the same time ambassadors from dif- 
ferent states to Boniface VIII., by Ligozzi; a third, the election of Cosimo I., by 
Cigoli ; and, a fourth, the institution of the order of San Stefano, by Passignano. In 
this hall, likewise, is a group of Victory with a prisoner at her feet, by Buonaroti ; 
and another group of Virtue triumphing over Vice, by Giovanni di Bologna. The 
exploits of Furius Caraillus are painted in tempera, by Salviati, in the Sala dell' 
Udienza Vecchia. 

The Loggia of the Palazzo Vecchio was built after the design of Andrea Arcagna ; 
and is adorned with a group, in bronze, called Judith and Holofernes, by Donaiello 
- — Perseus with Medusa's head, in bronze, by Cellini (the basso-relievo on the pedestal 
which supports this group is much admired), a group in marble, of a young Roman 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



255 




Palazzo Vecchio. 

warrior carrying off a Sabine virgin, and her father prostrate at his feet, with the 
rape of the Sabines in basso-relievo on the pedestal, by Giovanni di Bologna — two 
lions, in marble, brought from the Villa Medici, at Rome — and six antique statues 
of Sabine priestesses. 

The Piazza del Granduca contains a noble fountain, erected by Cosimo L, after 
the design of Ammannati — and an equestrian statue of Cosimo I., in bronze, by 
Giovanni di Bologna, to whom the sea-nymphs and tritons, which surround the 
fountain, are likewise attributed. 

The Fabbrica degli Ufizi, which comprehends the royal gallery, was built by 
Vasari : the exterior part of the edifice is ornamented with Doric columns, forming 
two magnificent porticoes, united at one end by an arch, which supports the apart- 
ments occupied by courts of justice ; and, over this arch, is a statue of Cosimo I., by 
Giovanni di Bologna; together v/ith recumbent figures of Equity and Rigor, by 
Vincenzo Danti. 

The Magliabechiana library, rich in manuscripts and printed books of the fifteenth 
century (and where the Florentine academy meet), is under the same roof with the 
Royal Gallery. It contains an immense library of valuable books and rare MSS., all 
of which are submitted to the public with the utmost liberality. 

In the first corriJor, the ceiling of this immense gallery is adorned with arabesques : 
round the walls, near the ceiling, are portraits of the most renowned characters of 
antiquity; comprehending generals, statesmen, princes, and literati; and, on the 
wall to the left, below the portraits, are paintings of the Florentine school. Here, 
likewise, is a most valuable collection of busts of the Roman emperors, and many 
of their relatives, which go round the three corridors. The first corridor contaiiis 
several curious sarcophagi ; one of which, in the centre of this apartment, near the 
entrance door, is particularly admired. On the left side are statues of a Wrestler, 
Mercury, and Apollo, all especially worth notice; as are the statues of Apollo, 
Urania, and Pan, with the young Olyntus, on the right side ; and the two seated 
figures of Ptoman matrons, one of which is supposed to represent Agrippina, the 
mother of Nero, and the group of Hercules killing the Centaur Nessus, at the end. 

Second Corridor.— On each side near the ceiling, is a continuation of the portraits 
of the most renowned characters of antiquity; here, likewise, are paintings con- 
taining the history of St. Maria, Maddalena, together with several pieces of sculpture, 
namely, Cupid; Bacchus and Ampelos; a Bacchante; Mercury; Leda ; Venus 
rising from the bath; Minerva; or, Falhs-Athenas ; a round altar supposed to be 
the work of Cleomenas; a tripod, dedicated to Mars; a Faun ; Ganymede with the 
eagle: a torso of a Faun, &c. 

Third Corridor. — Theceilingof this immense gallery is adorned with pain tings, rep- 
resenting the revival of the arts and sciences, with other historical subjects ; in which 



256 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

are introduced portraits of all the most eminent characters among the Florentines. 
On each side, near the ceiling, is a continuation of the portraits of the most renowned 
characters of antiquity ; and, on the left side, below the portraits, are paintings of the 
Neapolitan, and other schools. Here, likewise is a large number of statues; among 
which are Marsyas — Bacchus, by Buonaroti — St. John, by Donatello — and a copy of 
the Laocoon, by Bandinelli — an antique recumbent statue, in black marble, supposed 
to represent Morpheus — David, by Donatello — Bacchus, by Sansovino — Apollo seated 
— a wounded Soldier — a Discobolus, attributed to Myron ; and a Thetis on a sea- 
horse. This apartment also contains a fine picture of St. Peter healing the lame 
man at the gate of the temple, by Cosimo Gamberucci ; another of the transfigura- 
tion, by Luca Giordano; and another of the Madonna, our Savior, and St. John, 
copied,, by Empoli, from a celebrated fresco, which was painted by Andrea del Sarto, 
and is now destroyed. Among the most striking busts in the corridors are those of 
Nero, Otho, Titus Vespasian, and Antoninus Pius. 

The cabinet of antique bronzeg is enclosed in fourteen glass cases — the first of 
which contains. Apis, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, and a remarkable head of Saturn ; 
Juno, with Etruscan characters on her hip ; a Grecian bust of Minerva, &c. Second 
case. — Venus with her attributes — a celestial Venus — a triumphant Venus — an Her- 
maphrodite — an Amazon — Mars armed, &c. Third case. — Hercules, Bacchus, and 
Bacchantes — a Fauu playing the Doric flute — the labors of Hercules represented by 
a multitude of small statues — a Genius giving ambrosia to Bacchus. Fourth case. — 
Victory, Fortune, Genii, Egyptian divinities; among which is a beautiful Serapis, 
and Isis, crowned with a disk, holding Horus on her lap. Fifth case. — Etruscan 
divinities; a very fine collection. Sixth case. — Portraits of men and women ; frag- 
ments of statues, beautifully executed ; and a small skeleton. Seventh case. — Animals 
of various kinds, which served for votive offerings ; symbols, and military ensigns , 
a hippogriflf, a Chimsera ; a bull with a man's head ; a Roman eagle, which belonged 
to the twenty-fourth legion — and an open hand, called by the Romans- Manipulus. 
Eighth case. — Sacrificial instruments, altars, and tripods ; a curious sistrum ; a mural 
crown, &c. Ninth case. — Candelabra and lamps. Tenth case. — Helmets, spurs, bits, 
etc., for horses ; rings, bracelets, ear-rings, all made of gold ; mirrors of white metal; 
and needles made of hair. Eleventh case. — Ancient inscriptions graven on bronze — 
a manuscript, on wax, nearly efiaced — Roman scales and weights, etc. Twelfth and 
thirteenth cases. — Kitchen utensils — a silver disk ; on which is represented Flavius 
Ardaburius, who was consul of Rome in 342. Fourteenth case. — Locks, keys, and 
some monuments of the primitive Christians ; among which is a lamp in the shape 
of a boat, with a figure of St. Peter at the stern. Middle of the cabinet. — The head 
of a horse ! An orator, with Etruscan characters engraved on his robe — this fine 
statue was found near the lake of Perugia — a Chimsera, with Etruscan characters 
engraved on one of the legs, it was found near Arezzo — an Etruscan statue of a 
Genius, or perhaps a Bacchus, found at Pesaro. Winckelmann seepis to have thought 
this fine statue the work of a Grecian artist ; especially as Pesaro was a Grecian 
colony. A Minerva, injured by fire, but very beautiful ; on the helmet is a dragon, 
the symbol of viligance and prudence. This statue was found near Arezzo, and one 
arm has been restored. Behind the Chimsera is a torso ; and, before it, a tripod ; 
supposed to have belonged to a temple of Apollo. This cabinet likewise contains 
four busts, found in the sea, near Leghorn ; they appear to be Grecian sculpture, 
and one of them resembles Homer. 

The Etruscan bronzes of the Florentine gallery are supposed to have been execu- 
ted at a period when sculpture of this sort had reached its zenith of perfection in 
Etruria, where, according to Pausanias, bronze statues existed much earlier than in 
Greece. We are told that Romulus had his statue made of bronze, probably by an 
Etruscan artist ; we are likewise told that this event occurred about the eighth Olym- 
piad ; and it does not appear that the Greeks worked in bronze till about the sixtieth 
Olympiad. During the infancy of bronze sculpture, the component parts of statues 
were fastened together with nails. This is exemplified by six female figures of 
bronze, found in Herculaneum. 

Hall of Niobe. — At the upper end of this magnificent apartment is the celebrated 
group of Niobe and her youngest child, supposed to have been done by Scopas, and 
generally considered as the most interesting efi'ort of the Grecian chisel Italy can 
boast. It is not, however, perfect, as one of the mother's hands and one of the child's 
feet have been restored. 



CONTINENTAL EURO"PE.— ITALY. 



257 







17 



258 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Niobe, the daughter of Tantalus, according to the ancient story, was blessed with 
seven sons and as many daughters. In the pride of her heart she dared to triumph 
'over the goddess Leto, or Latona, who had only two children, Apollo and Artemis, 
the latter called by the Romans Diana. To punish Niobe for her insolence, Apollo 
and Diana destroyed all her children with their arrows; and, according to some sto- 
ries, the wretched mother was turned into stone through grief, and even the solid 
rock still continued to shed tears. Pausanias, a Greek writer of the second century 
of our era, who was fond of old marvellous tales, tells us that on Sipylus, a mountain 
of Asia Minor, he saw this Niobe of stone. "When you are near it," says he, "it 
is nothing but a steep rock, bearing no resemblance at all to a woman, much less to 
one weeping ; but when you are at some distance, you might imagine it to be the 
figure of a female weeping and in great distress." 

The story of Nibbe became a favorite subject for sculptors, and it is not improba- 
ble that there were once several groups representing the mother and her children. 
Pliny speaks of one being in a temple of Apollo, at Rome, in his time: "It is doubt- 
ful whether Scopas or Praxiteles made the dying Niobe and her children." 

There is now extant a very large number of short Greek pieces in verse, commonly 
called epigrams, though they do not properly mean epigrams in our sense of the 
word. They are rather short pieces, such as would be appropriate for inscriptions 
on temples, statues, &c., or merely such lines as we often see written in albums, or 
to commemorate briefly some particular event, or to express concisely some senti- 
ment ; and they do not necessarily terminate with any pointed saying or witticism. 
Several of these epigrams refer to some figure or figures representing Niobe, or Niobe 
and her children. One of them, in two lines, runs thus : — 

" The gods turned me while living into stone, but out of stone Praxiteles has re- 
stored me to life." 

This was evidently intended to express the writer's admiration of some piece of 
sculpture to which the chisel of Praxiteles had given a living and breathing form. 

But there is another longer inscription, which alludes more particularly to some 
group of which the Niobe, now at Rome, seems to have been a part ; or at least 
there can be little doubt that the following lines refer to a similar group : — 

" Daughter of Tantalus, Niobe, hear my words which are the messengers of woe ! 
listen to the piteous tale of thy sorrows ! Loose the bindings of thy hair, mother of 
a race of youths who have fallen beneath the deadly arrows of Phoebus. Thy sons 
no longer live ! But what is this ? I see something more. The blood of thy daugh- 
ters, too, is streaming around ! One lies at her mother's knees ; another in her lap ; 
a third on the earth ; and one clings to the breast : one gazes stupified at the coming 
blow, and one crouches down to avoid the arrow, while another still lives. But the 
mother, whose tongue once knew no restraint, stands like a statue, hardened into 
stone!" 

Among the various figures still extant, which are supposed to belong to the group 
of the Niobe, it is not easy to say which are genuine parts of the whole, and which 
are not. It seems probable that the mother with one of her daughters formed the 
centre, and that other figures were arranged on each side. It has further been con- 
jectured that the whole occupied the tympanum or pediment of a temple, as the 
great figures of the Theseus, Ilissus, &c., in the Elgin collection, decorated the pedi- 
ment of Minerva's temple, at Athens. One critic has gone so far as to deny the 
possibility of the group of Niobe and her daughters having been placed in the pedi- 
ment of a temple, because there would be no room for the angry deities whose arrows 
are piercing the children of Niobe ; as if the whole impression produced was not 
infinitely greater, because the angry deities are unseen. The fact is, that to any one 
who knew the story of Niobe, the mere sight of the complete group would tell the 
tale at once : " That they are the sons and daughters of Niobe, who, in the bosom 
of their mother, or near her, sink beneath the arrows of the deities, or try to escape 
from them, we see by a single glance at this group of figures, who are in various at- 
titudes, fallen, falling, flying, or trying to hide themselves, full of anguish and de- 
spair, while the colossal figure of the mother stands in the midst, expressive of the 
deepest agony." 

Round the apartment are statues of the other children of Niobe, which seem the 
work of various artists. The daughter, next to Niobe, on the left, is admirably exe- 
cuted ; the opposite statue, on the right, has great merit ; the dead son is wonder- 
:fully fine, but, considering the fable, it appears extraordinary that the sculptor should 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 259 

have placed him on a cushion. The two daughters on each side of Poedagogus, and 
the third statue, on the left oJ' the entrance door, have great merit. It is extremely 
to be regretted that these chefs- dfauvre of art are not disposed in such a manner as 
to accord with the subject. 

The second statue on the left of the entrance door is a Psyche, and has nothing to 
do with the tragedy of Niobe, but was introduced merely to adorn the apartment, as 
likewise was the statue of a youih kneeling, and apparently wounded. 

In the Cabinet of Portraits of Painters (chiefly done by themselves), in the centre 
of the apartment, is the celebrated Vase of the Villa Medicis, adorned with bassi- 
relievi representing the sacrifice of Iphigenia. The ceiling is painted by Pietro Dan- 
diai, and round the walls are portraits of Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Buonaroli, 
Titian, the Caracci family, Domenichino, Albano, Guercino, Guido, Vandyck, Ve- 
lasques, Rembrandt, Charles Le Brun, Vander-Werf, &c., &c. The apartment which 
communicates with this, likewise contains portraits of painters ; the ceiling is painted 
by Bimbacci, and in the cenlre of the room is a magnificent table of Florentine mo- 
saic work, called Opera di Commessn, which consists of sparks of gems, and minute 
pieces of the finest marble, so placed as to imitate flowers, insects, and paintings of 
every description. Round the walls are portraits of Mengs, Batoni, Reynolds, An- 
gelica Kaufman, and Madame Lebrun ; and here also is a marble bust of Mrs. Da- 
rner, done by herself. 

The apartment containing gems, &c., is ornamented with fine columns of oriental 
alabaster and verde antique, and contains a most valuable collection of medals, gems, 
kc, together with a table of Florentine mosaic work, executed when the manufac- 
ture was in its infancy, and representing the ancient port of Leghorn. 

But the apartment in this palace which attracts the most notice, is that called the 
Tribune. This elegant apartment is built after the design of Buontalenti. It is 
paved with precious marbles, and the roof is vaulted, and covered with mother-of- 
pearl. It contains admirable specimens of sculpture and painting. Here is the 
Venus de Medici, found in Adrian's villa, and supposed to have been done by Prax- 
i'e'es; the Apollo (called ApoUino), atiributed to the same great artist; the Dancing 
Faun, evidently a production of the best age of ancient sculpture, and excellently 
ref^tored byBuonaroti; the Arrotino, found at Rome, and supposed to represent the 
Scy hian slave, when commanded to flay Marsyas ; and the group of the Lottatori, 
or Wrestlers, found with the Niobe. (Winckelmann thought this work not unworthy 
either of Cephissodorus, who made the Symplegma at Ephesus, or of Heliodorus, 
who executed a similar group. These artists were the sons of Praxiteles.) The 
Veaus de Medici is about five English feet in height ; the hands are modern ; indeed, 
the statue, when first discovered, was broken in thirteen places. Pliny mentions six 
famous Venuses; one, by Phidias, which stood under the portico of Octavia, at 
Rome ; another, finished by Phidias, but begun by his pupil, and this stood just 
without the town of Athens ; another, at Rome, in the temple of Brutus Callaicus; 
and a fouith, by an unknown artist, which was placed in the Temple of Peace ; 
another, made by Praxiteles, and veiled, was purchased by the people of Cos ; and 
the six'h, an undraped figure, was sent to Gnidus ; but this latter, the more excellent 
Avork of the two, is supposed to have been destroyed at Constantinople, as was the 
Olympian Jupiter of Phidias, the Juno of Samos, &c. It seems, therefore, impos- 
sible to discover, from the author just quoted, whether the modest and beautiful 
Venus de Medici be, or be not, the child of Praxiteles. Among the pictures of the 
Tribune are, the Epiphany, by Albert Durer ; Endymion Sleeping, by Guercino ; a 
Sibyl, by the some magic pencil : a Holy Father, by Buonaroti ; Venus, with a Love 
behind her, by Titian ; another Venus, wiih flowers in her right hand, and at her feet 
a dog, also by Titian ; a portrait of the prelate, Beccadelli, by the same master; a 
Holy Family, with the Magdalene, and the Prophet Isaiah, by Parmigiano ; three 
pictures, namely, the Circumcision, the Adoration of the Magi, and the Resurrec- 
tion, by Mantegna ; the Madonna, Our Savior, St. Francesco, and St. John the Evan- 
gelist, by Andrea del ^arto ; the Madonna in Contemplation, by Guido; the Mas- 
sacre of the Innocents, by Daniello da Vol terra ; the portrait of Cardinal Aguechia, 
by Domenichino ; the Holy Family and St. Catherine, by Paolo Veronese ; a Bac- 
chante and a Satyr, by Annibale Caracci ; St. Jerome, by Spagnoletto ; the Madonna, 
Our Sa!vior, St. John, and St. Sebastiano, the two former seated, tlie two latter 'stand- 
ing, by Pietro Perugino; six pictures by Raphael, namely, a portrait of Maddelena 
Doni, a Florentine lady, in his first style, two Holy Families, in an improved style, 






260 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

though still partaking of the Perugino school, St. John in the Wilderness, a portrait 
of Pope Giulio II., and another of La Fornarina, who was celebrated for her attach- 
ment to Raphael, all three painted in his last and best style ; a portrait, by Vandyck, 
supposed to represent Jean de Montford, and another, representing Charles V. on 
horseback ; a Holy Family, by Schidone; Job and Isaiah, by Fra Bartolomeo della 
Porta ; the Flightinto Egypt, the Virgin adoring the Infant Jesus, and the Decapita- 
tion of St. John, by Correggio ; Herodias receiving the head of St. John, by Leon- 
ardo da Vmci ; a Madonna and Child, by Giulio Romano ; Hercules between Vice 
and Virtue, by Rubens. We have been thus particular in naming these splendid 
woiks of art, that our readers may form some idea of the immense treasures grouped 
in this chamber. 

The Palazzo Pitti, where the grand-duke of Tuscany usually resides, was begun 
after the design of Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, the most celebrated architect of the 
fifteenth century, and finished by Ammannati. In the quadrangle is the basso-relievo 
of a mule, who constantly drew a sledge which contained the materials employed in 
the building ; and over this basso-relievo is a statue of Hercules, attributed to Lysip- 
pas. On the ground-floor is a chapel, which contains a beautiful altar, of Florentine 
work, with the Last Supper, executed in pietri duri, in its centre ; the ceiling and 
walls are adorned with frescoes, of which that representing the Crucifixion seems the 
best. The ground-floor likewise contains fine frescoes by Sebastiano Ricci, Giovanni 
da San Giovanni, &c. The first room up stairs contains ten statues, taken from the 
Villa Medicis ; and the best of these is a Minerva. The second room contains busts 
of Roman emperors, and other sculpture, likewise taken from the Villa Medicis, and 
in another apartment is the world-renowned Madonna della Seggiola, a picture so 
full of beauty and sweetness, that its original must have existed only in the imagi- 
nation of the painter. 

The beautiful Giardino di Boboliisvery large, and contains several pieces of sculp- 
ture, the most remarkable of which are two Dacian prisoners, in oriental porphyry, 
at the entrance; a colossal Ceres; the fountain at the end of the principal walk, 
decorated with a colossal Neptune, standing on a granite basin above twenty feet in 
diameter, with the Ganges, Nile, and Euphrates, beneath, all by Giovanni di Bo- 
logna ; Neptune, in bronze, surrounded with sea-monsters, by Lorenzi ; and four un- 
finished statues by Buonaroti. 

The Museo d'lstoria Naturale, collected by the Grand Duke Leopoldo, is said to 
be the finest museum existing, with respect to the anatomical preparations in wax 
and wood, the petrifactions and minerals, and the thick-leaved, milky, and spongy 
plants, which can not be preserved in the common way, and are therefore beauti- 
fully represented in wax, to complete the botanical part of this princely collection. 
All the anatomical preparations, in wax and wood, were executed under the orders 
of Cav. F. Fontana, except the famous representation of the plague, which was 
done by the Abate Lumbo in the days of the Medici, and is so painfully fine that few 
can bear to examine it. This masterly perlbrmance owes its present place to Cav. 
Giovanni Fabbronni, a gentleman who has not only contributed essentially to the im- 
provement of the museum, but likewise to that of arts and sciences in general. 
Below stairs is a laboratory. On the first floor are two rooms filled with large quad- 
rupeds, fishes, &c, a library, rooms destined to mechanics, hydraulics, electricity, and 
mathematics, together with a botanic garden ; and on the second floor are twenty 
rooms, containing the representation of the plague, and anatomical preparations; all 
of which may be avoided by persons not inclined to see them. In another suite of 
apartments, on the same floor, are birds, fishes, reptiles, insects, shells, fossils, min- 
erals, wax-plants, &c. The observatory makes a part^of this museum. 

The Duomo, or cathedral of Florence, in extent and magnificence, ranks among 
the first ecclesiastical edifices of Europe. It also derives an interest from its vener- 
able antiquity, and from its being considered as a new era in the history of architec- 
ture. Tuscan writers, rather too lavish of their praise, have said a great deal about 
the bold abandonment of the Gothic style, and the happy adaptation of the ancient 
Roman style of architecture in this building, which shows an admixture of several 
styles, though it certainly has more of the ancient Roman than any work that pre- 
ceded it in the middle ages. Its fine double cupola was the first raised in Europe, 
and in other respects, the Duomo of Florence served as a model to succeeding archi- 
tects. This cathedral was begun in 1296. The first architect employed upon it was 
Arnolfo di Lapo, a scholar of Cimabue, the old painter. In one hundred and fifty- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



261 




J62 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

four years, and under successive artists, it was nearly finished. " But," says an old 
Florentine author, " the grand cupola was the parturition of the marvellous genius 
of Ser Filippo Brunellesco, an architect who in his days had no equal." It is related 
of Michael Angelo Buonarotti, that he used to gaze at this proud dome with rapture, 
and say it never could be surpassed by naortal man. He afterward surpassed it him- 
self, in his dome of St. Peter's, at Rome ; but spite of his magnificent boast, the cu- 
pola of Florence was a prototype, and had more to do with St. Peter's than the dome 
of the Pantheon, which Buonarotti said he would suspend in the air. Brunellesco, 
the author of the cupola, gave the finishing-hand to the cathedral. In size, materials, 
and boldness of conception, it is only inferior among Italian churches to St. Peter's. 
The walls are cased with black and white marble, and both without and within they 
are adorned with numerous statues, many of which are beautiful as works of art, or 
interesting as early specimens of Italian sculpture. As in the cathedral of Milan, 
where there is a complete army of statues, too many of them are placed in positions 
where they can scarcely be seen. 

Like other old buildings, the cathedral of Florence has been subjected to the ca- 
prices of power, and the bad taste of despotism. The facade was almost half in- 
crusted with beautiful marble, and additionally adorned with many statues and basso- 
relievoes, executed from designs by the venerable Giotto, one of the fathers of paint- 
ing — one of the immortal Italians who dug up the fine arts from the grave in which 
they had been buried for centuries. In 1586, without any visible motive, a grand- 
duke of the house of Medici demolished this antique front, and began another on a 
totally different design. This new facade was very slowly executed, and never fin- 
ished ; and in 1688, another grand-duke, whose taste it did not please, knocked it all 
down, just as his predecessor had demolished the venerable works of Giotto. For 
several years, the front of the church presented nothing but bare, unsightly walls , 
and then, on the occasion of some ducal marriage, the reigning Medici had it shab- 
bily painted in fresco, and in that condition it remained for a century. The spirited 
republicans, the merchants and manufacturers of old Florence, with whose money 
the vast cathedral was originally built, could aflford to lavish costly statues and the 
most precious marbles; but the population, enterprise, and wealth of the country 
had suffered a sad blight under the despotic government which succeeded the com- 
monwealth, and the grand-dukes could only provide a little plaster and paint for a 
building which was the boast of the city, as it was the glory of the old republicans. 
The Medici — that family of merchant-princes, whose virtues and abilities went out 
like lamps lacking oil, almost immediately after their assumption of absolute power — 
kept their marbles, their " porphyry, jasper, agate, and all hues" to heap upon their 
own inglorious tomb, in the church of St. Lorenzo ; and even that monument of their 
vanity and tawdry taste they never finished. 

Seven great doors, three in front and two on either side, give admittance to the 
interior of. the Florence cathedral. These doors are richly ornamented. Giovanni 
di Pisa and Ghirlandaio both employed their genius upon them. The floor of the 
church is paved with rich variegated marbles, disposed in a beautiful manner. 
Italian writers, who deserve our love by the fond, minute attention they have 
paid to such matters, record that the pavement of the great central aisle was laid 
down by Francesco di San Gallo ; that round the choir by the versatile and great 
Michael Angelo ; and the rest by Giuliano di Baccio d'Agnolo. The windows are 
smaller and fewer than «usaal, and the glass being painted with the deep, rich tints 
common in ancient glass-staining, admits but a subdued light. As Forsyth observes, 
"Here is just that ' dim, religious light' which pleases poetical and devout minds." 
This light almost becomes "a darkness visible" in the choir, for the cupola or dome 
under which it stands, is closed at top, and admits no flood of sunshine, like the 
dome of St. Peter's. The choir is in itself a blemish. It is of an octagonal form, to 
correspond with the shape of the cupola, which is not circular but octagonal or 
eight-sided. It is enclosed by a colonnade which is fine, considered apart and by 
itself, but its Ionic elevation is at variance, and jars with the rest of the building. 
Some curious basso-relievoes enrich the choir, and high overhead the interior of the 
cupola is covered with fresco paintings, the work of Frederico Zuccheri and Giorgio 
Vasari. 

The solemn old church is rich is associations and historical recollections. Here 
are the tombs of Giotto the painter, Brunellesco the architect, and Marsilius Ficinus, 
the reviver of the Platonic philosophy, and the friend and instructor of Lorenzo the 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 263 

Magnificent. Here, on the 26th day of April, 1478, when high mass was perform- 
ing, and just as the priest held up the host, the blood of Giuliano de Medici was 
shed by the Pazzi ; and his brother Lorenzo, clinging to the horns of the altar, and 
afterward flying into the sacristy, escaped with difficulty from those determined con- 
spirators, who would have restored liberty to their country, but who set about it in a 
wrong way, and mostly from violent and personal motives, and who, moreover, 
leagued themselves with the king of Naples, the greatest tyrant in Italy, and with 
other despots, who hated liberty even more than they hated the Medici. Here, some 
years before, when Constantinople was trembling at the approach of the Turks, the 
Greek emperor, half a fugitive, and wholly a mean supplicant and beggar, sat side 
by side with the pope, consenting to renounce the schisms and heresies of the Greek 
church, and engaging (without consulting them) to bring all his people into the bo- 
som of the church <)f Rome, on conditions agreed upon, that the pope should pro- 
cure him arms, treasures, and the assistance of the catholic princes of Europe. 
Here the German emperor, Frederic III., forgetting that the holy spirit of the place 
was one of peace a«d good-will to all men, knighted some scores of the bravest or 
fiercest of his cut-throat soldiery. A portrait recalls the memory of the greatest of 
all Florentines, and shows the tardy repentance of his ungrateful countrymen. " An 
ancient picture by Orcagna, in which is painted the divine poet Dante, is placed here 
in consequence of an express decree of the Florentine republic ; and this is the only 
public memorial we possess of that great master of Tusean poetry." Such are the 
melancholy words of an old Florentine writer, who, like all his countrymen, deplored 
that the bard should have died in poverty and exile, and have left his strictly-guarded 
ashes in a foreign state. Next to this picture of Dante is' the portrait of an English 
soldier of fortune, the renowned and infamous condottiero. Sir John Hawkwood, who 
betrayed and sold the Pisans, in whose service he was, to their bitter enemies, the 
Florentines. 

In another part of the church there is a curious old portrait of Giotto. Brunel- 
lesco has the honor of a bust, as well as that of a Latin epitaph, on his tomb. This 
epitaph, which was written by Carlo Marzuppini of Arezzo, " poet and secretary of 
the republic," is remarkable, as it includes the original idea of the inscription in St. 
Paul's to the memory of Sir Christopher Wren. The Florentine inscription tells the 
reader to look at the cupola to form a notion of Brunellesco's excellence in architec- 
ture. The inscription to "Wren, which is better turned, says, "Reader, if you would 
behold his monument, look around you." 

In various parts of the cathedral, there are statues by Baccio Bandanelli, Savino 
Rovezzano, ,and other early artists. The chapels which shoot off from the side 
aisles are rich in pictures, sculptures, and relics. The campanile, or belfry, which 
is the square tower that the reader will see in our engraving, surmounted with a 
flag, is close to, but wholly detached from, the body of the cathedral. This was a 
common method in old Italian churches, where the bells were hung, not in the tem- 
ple, but in a separate tower near to it. Instances of this occur at the celebrated ca- 
thedral of Pisa, at the church of Santa Chiara in Naples, and in many other places. 
The campanile of Florence is light and airy. It is coated on the outside with vari- 
egated marble, and studded, here and there, with statues. Giotto, the painter, drew 
the designs on which it was erected. And here it is worthy of remark, that nearly 
every one of these early artists was not a mere painter, or sculptor, or architect, but 
united in himself the knowledge and practice of all the three arts, besides being 
skilled in civil engineering, and in most cases, a poet, or an accomplished musician, 
to boot. They were a wonderful set of men, who suddenly sprung up and flourished, 
and filled their native cities with beauty, in the midst of a most turbulent liberty, 
when wars and factions shook the peninsula from one end to the other, and every 
citizen or burgess of the free states of Tuscany and Lombardy was of necessity a 
soldier. The impulse they gave lasted some years after the decline of freedom ; but 
Italy never saw such men in the tranquillity that arose out of confirmed despotism. 

Opposite to the principal entrance of the cathedral there stands another detached 
building, which the reader will see in our view. This is the baptistery, which it 
was also usual not to include in the church, but to erect apart. At Pisa, as here, and 
in many other places, the baptistery is a separate edifice, rising near the cathedral. 
This baptistery was not confined to one parish ; all the children born in the city and 
suburbs used to be christened in it ; and as the population in the thirteenth, four- 
teenth, and fifteenth centuries, was immense, the baptismal fonts must have pre- 



264 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

sented very busy scenes. A notion may be formed of the extent of the population 
from a fact rdentioned by Machiavelli. He says that the bells of the campanile 
sounding the tocsin, would, in a few hours, bring together 135,000 well-armed men, 
and all these from Florence alone, with the adjoining valley of the Arno. 

The baptistery is an octagonal building, with a low dome, supported by many 
granite columns. Its interior walls are lined, and the pavement is inlaid with mar- 
ble. The concave of the dome is covered with mosaic, the work of Andrea Tafi, 
one of Cimabue's pupils. But the glory and marvel of the baptistery lie in its three 
great bronze portals, which are wrought into basso-relievoes of exquisite beauty. 
The most ancient of the three was by Andrea Pisano, and bears the date of 1330. 
The other two, which are still more excellent in style, and so beautiful that Michael 
Angelo was accustomed to say they were worthy of being the gates of paradise, 
were the work of Lorenzo Ghiberti. The figures and groups of the relievoes refer 
to events in the life of St. John the Baptist. By the sides of the principal entrance 
there are two porphyry columns, given to the republic by the Pisans in 1117, in grat- 
itude for the important services rendered by the then friendly Florentines, who had 
kept watch and ward in Pisa, while its warlike citizens went to the conquest of Ma- 
jorca and Minorca. Close at hand, as also in some other parts of the city, are some 
very different memorials. They are links of a massy iron chain, with which, when 
entire, the Pisans used to shut up and defend their celebrated port. In 1362, the 
Florentines took the Porto Pisano, carried away the chain, and hung up fragments 
of it in their own town as trophies of victory. 

The Church of the S. S. Annunziata contains a fresco of the Annunciation, done by 
a certain Bartolommeo, who being, it- is said, at a loss how to make the counte- 
nance of the Madonna properly seraphic, fell asleep while pondering over his work, 
and, on waking, found it executed in a style he was unable to equal ; upon which he 
instantly exclaimed, "A miracle! a miracle!" and his countrymen were too fond 
of miracles hot to believe him, although the Madonna's face is by no means so ex- 
quisitely painted as to be attributed to a heavenly artist. The open vestibule, lead- 
ing to the church, is ornamented with several frescoes, namely : A nativity, by Baldo- 
vinetti ; St. Filippo Benizzi induced to embrace the monastic life in consequence of 
a vision, by Ptosseli ; St. Filippo covering a naked leper with his own shirt, by An- 
drea del Sarto ; St. Filippo, while travelling toward Modena, reviled by young men 
under a tree, which being struck with lightning, two of the revilers are killed — this 
is by Andrea del Sarto ; as are, St. Filippo delivering a young person from an evil 
spirit ; a dead child restored to life by touching the garment which covered the 
corpse of the saint ; women and children kneeling round a friar, who is adorned with 
the relics of St. Filippo's clothes ; and seven lunettes, on the other side of the vesti- 
bule. The Marriage of the Madonna is by Francabigio ; the Visit of Mary to Eliz- 
abeth, by Pontormo ; and the Assumption, by Rossi. This corridor contains a bust 
of Andrea del Sarto. 

The church of the Annunziata is loaded with ornaments. It contains, in the cen- 
tre of the ceiling, an Assumption, by Volterrano, who likewise painted the cupola of 
the Tribune. In the chapel which encloses the miraculous picture is an altar, adorned 
with silver bassi-relievi ; two silver candelabra, about six feet high ; two large silver 
statues of angels; a ciborio, beautifully worked, and embellished with a head of our 
Savior, by Andrea del Sarto ; a silver cornice, from which hangs a curtain of the 
same metal ; and an immense number of silver lilies, and lamps, which encircle the 
altar. The pavement of this chapel is porphyry and Egyptian granite ; and in the 
adjoining oratory, whose walls are incrusted with agate, jasper, and other precious 
stones, is a crucifix, by Antonio di San Gallo. To the left of the great door is a pic- 
ture of the Last Judgment, by Aless. Allori, and another, of the Crucifixion, by Stra- 
dano: the ceiling and lunettes of the chapel on this side, at the end of the cross, are 
painted in fresco by Volterrano, and contain a curious old picture, over the altar, of 
St. Zenobio, and other figures. In front of the high-altar, which is adorned Avith a 
splendid silver ciborio, are recumbent statues, the one by Francesco da San Gallo, 
the other by Giovanbatista Foggini ; and behind the altar is a chapel decorated after 
the designs, and at the expense, of Giovanni di Bologna, who was buried in it ; and 
whose tomb is adorned with a crucifix and basso-relievo in bronze, executed by him- 
self for the grand duke, by whom they were thus handsomely and judiciously appro- 
priated. The chapel contains a picture of the Resurrection, by Ligozzi ; a Pieta, by 
Passignano ; a Nativity, by Paggi ; and a Cupoletta, by Poccetti. Leading from the 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE— ITALY. 



265 




266 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

high-altar, toward the great door in the opposite side of the cross to that already de- 
scribed, is a chapel painted by Vincenzio Meucci ; and near this is the chapel of 
Bandinelli, containing a dead Christ in marble, supported by Nicodemus, the latter 
being a portrait of Bandinelli, by whom this group was executed. The curtain of 
the organ, representing the canonization of St. Giuliana, is by Romei. In a corridor, 
on the ihe left side of the church, is the celebrated fresco called La Madonna del 
Sacco, deemed the master-piece of Andrea del Sarto, and at which Buonaroti and 
Titian are said to have gazed unceasingly. It is recorded, that the author of this 
beautiful work did it for a sack of corn in a time of famine. 

The Chiesa di St. Maria Maddelena dei Pazzi particularly deserves notice, on ac- 
count of the Neri-chapel, situated on the right side of the court leading to the church. 
The altar-piece of this chapel is by Passignano, and its cupoletta contains the chef- 
cfczuvre of Poccetti, representing the mansions of the blessed. In the church is a 
magnificent Cappella-maggiore, incrusled with rare and beautiful marbles, and 
adorned with twelve columns of Sicilian jasper, whose capitals and bases are of 
bronze gilt. Here rest the remains of St. Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi, surrounded 
with bassi-relievi of bronze gilt (expressing the most memorable actions of her life), 
and four marble statues, representing her most conspicuous virtues, namely, piety, 
sweetness, penitence, and religion. Sweetness, with the lamb and dove, and Reli- 
gion with a veil, are particularly worth notice — especially the latter, the features 
through the veil being finely expressed. 

The Chiesa di Santa Croce, built about the year 1294 by Arnolfo, and afterward 
repaired by Vasari, is a vast edifice, better calculated to promote religious contem- 
plation than any other church at Florence. Over the middle-door of the facade is a 
statue, in bronze, by Donatello ; and at the entrance of the church, on the right, is 
the tomb of Buonarotti, who was born at Chiusi, near Arezzo, in 1474, and died at 
Rome in 1563 ; but the grand duke of Tuscany, jealous that Rome should have the 
honor of providing a grave for this great and good man, brdered his body to be re- 
moved thence, and buried in the church of Santa Croce. The family of Buonarotti 
was noble, and Michael Angelo's parents were averse to his becoming an artist, 
which they deemed derogatory to nobility. He, however, by unceasing importuni- 
ties, at length prevailed upon them to let him follow his natural genius. Sculpture, 
Painting, and Architecture, are represented, in mournful attitudes, sitting beneath the 
tomb of their favorite, whose bust rests upon a sarcophagus ; and a small painting, 
done by Buonarotti, is introduced among the ornaments at the top of the monument. 
The statue of Sculpture, by Cioli, is ill-done ; Architecture, by Giovanni della Opera, 
is more happily executed ; and Painting, by G. Batista del Cavaliere, better still: 
the bust of Buonarotti is by the last-named artist. Buonarotti, when an infant, was 
put out to nurse at the village of Settignano, about three miles distant from Florence, 
and where the inhabitants were chiefly stonecutters and sculptors : his nurse's hus- 
band followed the latter occupation, so that the child's passion for this art seems to 
have been sucked in with his milk. 

The second tomb, on this side, is that of Filippo Buonarotti, the antiquary ; the 
third, that of Pietro Michelli, called by Linnseus, " The lynx of botany ;" the fourth, 
that of Vittorio Alfieri, by Canova, who has represented Italy mourning over the sar- 
cophagus of the poet, which is adorned with masks, lyres, laurel-wreaths, and a head 
of Alfieri, in basso-relievo. The Florentines are not pleased with the shape of this 
monument, neither do they like the manner in which the figure of Italy is draped 
and this last circumstance, united with the late public revolutions, gave birth to the 
following jeu d^esprit : — 



" Canova questa volta I'ha sbagliata 
Fe I'ltalia vestita ed 8 spogliata.'" 



The fifth monument, on this side, is that of Machiavelli, erected two hundred and 
sixty-six years after his death, at the e;cpense of the literati. The sixth monument 
is that of Lanzi, near which is an Annunciation, in marble, by Donatello. The eighth 
monument is that of Leonardo Bruni, Aretino, the historian, which bears a Latin in- 
scription to this purport : " Since Leonardo died, History mourns. Eloquence is mute, 
and it is said that neither the Greek nor Latin Muses can refrain from tears." The 
ninth monument is that of Nardini, a famous musician ; and the tenth that of an 
equally famous architect, Pio Fantoni, of Fiesole. The Castellani-chapel contains a 
picture of the Last Supper by Vasari ; a monument to the memory of Cav. Vanni 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



267 










Interior of the Chiesa di Santa Croce. 



and another to that of M. B. Skotnicki, representing Grief as a recumbent female 
figure, veiled, and lying on a sarcophagus, which exhibits a pallet, brushes, and an 
unstrung lyre. This monument is by Ricci, now a distinguished artist, but, not long 
since, a peasant on the Marchese Corsi's estate, near Florence. The Baroncelli- 
chapel coniains paintings, on the walls, by Taddeo-Gaddi, and over the altar a piqture 
of the coronation of the Madonna, &c., by Giotto. The Riccardi-chapel contains 
good paintings by Passignano, Rosselli, and Giovanni di San Giovanni. Behind the 
high-altar are paintings by Agnolo Gaddi, representing the Invention of the Cross. 
The history of the Invention of the Cross is as follows: In 356, Saint Helena, the 
mother of Constantine, being at Jerusalem, ordered the temple of Venus, which pro- 
faned that sacred spot, to be destroyed ; in doing Avhich, remains of the holy sepul- 
chre were discovered, and likewise three crosses. It seemed, however, impossible 
to ascertain which of the three was that whereon our Savior suffered, till a learned 
prelate took them all to the habitation of a dying lady, placing her first on one, then 
on another, and then on the third, which she no sooner touched than the illness left 
her. The Niccolini-chapel, built after the design of Antonio Dosio, and beautifully 
incrusted with rare marbles, contains fine pictures by Aless. AUori ; statues of Moses 
and Aaron, by Francavilla ; and a cupola, painted in fresco by Volterrano, the four 
sibyls in the angles of which are chefs-d'ceuvre. This quarter of the church likewise 
contains a celebrated crucifix, by Donatello, together with pictures of the Martyrdom 
of St. Lorenzo, by Ligozzi ; the Trinity, by Cigoli ; and the Descent of the Holy 
Ghost, by Vasari. 

Leading toward the great door, and opposite to the monuments already described, 
are the following : First, the tomb of Cocchio ; the second, that of Carlo Mazzopini ; 
the third, that of Carlo Marzuppini, Aretino, finely executed by Desiderio da Setlig- 
nano ; the fourth, that of Lami, by Foggini ; the fifth, that of Pompeio-Josephi Sig- 
norinio, by Ricci, who has adorned this sarcophagus with a beautiful recumbent 
figure of Philosophy, whose countenance expresses deep sorrow. Near this tomb is 
a picture of the Resurrection, by Santi di Tito ; together with the monument of the 
great and much-injured Galileo, erected by order of Viviani, his pupil. The bust of 
Galileo is by Foggini. History tells us that Galileo was first interred in the Piazza 
Santa Croce (which is unconsecrated ground), because he lay under suspicion of 
heresy on account of his philosophical discoveries ; nay, it is even asserted that the 
family of Nelli (Viviani's executors) found some difficulty in obtaining leave to re- 
move his bones into the church, almost a century after his decease. Beyond this 
tomb is that of Filicajo. At the bottom of the church is a painting of the Resurrec- 
tion, by Aless. Allori ; and the pulpit merits notice, as it was executed by Benedetto 



268 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

da Majano. The sacristy contains curious pictures, in fresco, by Taddeo-Gaddi ; and 
in the monastery of Santa Croce are paintings by Cimabue and Giotto. 

The Capeila de' Medici, adjoining to the church of St. Lorenzo, was begun in 
1604, by Ferdinando I., after his own design. Three hundred workmen were for a 
considerable time employed upon this building : but latterly, the number has been 
lessened ; and we have already seen the ducal family of Medicis extinct: nay, per- 
haps, may see the dukedom itself annihilated, ere the finishing stroke be given to 
this magnificent mausoleum of its princes. The building is octangular, and the walls 
are beautifully incrusted with almost every kind of precious marble. Six sides of 
the octagon are embellished with sarcophagi of Egyptian and oriental granite, made 
after the design of Buonarotti,and two of them enriched with cushions of red jasper, 
which bear regal crowns of great value. Here likewise are two statues in bronze, 
one of which is by Giovanni di Bologna, and the other by Pietro Tacca. The sar- 
cophagi are mere ornaments; the bodies of the princes being placed perpendicularly 
under them, in a subterranean repository. 

The Libreria Mediceo-Laurenziana, one of the most elegant apartments of its kind 
in Europe, was built under the direction of Buonarotti, by whom the designs for the 
pavement also were executed. The windows are beautifully painted' in arabesque 
by Raphael's scholars ; and the manuscripts which compose this library are well ar- 
ranged, highly valuable, and several of them finely illuminated. Here are, a Virgil 
of the third century, written in capitals ; an Old Testament of the twelfth century ; 
the celebrated Pisan Pandects of the sixth century ; the Psalms of David of the elev- 
enth century ; a prayer-book beautifully illuminated ; a missal, painted by the school 
of Pietro Perugino ; a copy of Dante, written only twenty-two years after his death ; 
a Livy of the fifteenth century, beautifully illuminated ; the geography of Ptolemy, 
of the fifteenth century ; the " Decamerone" of Bocaccio, written two years before 
his death ; a Homer of the fifteenth century ; a Horace with Petrarch's own 
handwriting in it ; a celebrated Syriac manuscript ; the life of Lorenzo de' 
Medici, &c., &c. 

The reale Accademia delle belle Arti, founded by the grand-duke Leopoldo, is 
open to public inspection, and merits notice, not only on account of the liberality of 
the institution, which gives all possible encouragement to rising genius, but likewise 
as it contains excellent casts of the baptistery-doors, and most of the fine statues hith- 
erto discovered in Italy. Here is a noble apartment, fitted up with drawings, &c., 
for the use of young painters ; other noble apartments, containing every necessary ac- 
commodation for those who are further advanced ; a gallery, containing paintings 
and sketches, by celebrated masters, among which is a valuable picture by Angelico, 
another by Giovanni di San Giovanni, of the Repose in Egypt, and a beautiful head 
of our Savior, by Carlo Dolci. This academy likewise contains schools for archi- 
tecture, practical mechanics, &c. ; and here also the Florentine work in pietri duri, 
called Opera di commesso, is made. 

The Casa dei Poveri, in Via dei Malcontenti, which owes its establishment to the 
Emperor Napoleon, is an immense edifice, capable of lodging three thousand per- 
sons, who, in great measure, maintain themselves by making caps, or rather Phry- 
gian bonnets, for the Mediterranean mariners, ribands, cloth, carpets, &c., &c. 
There are workshops of almost every description in the house ; and the present 
grand-duke of Tuscany, much to his honor, supports and benefits this benevolent and 
useful institution, which has completely cleared Florence of the innumerable troops 
of mendicants by whom it was formerly infested. 

The Spedale di Bonifazio, or great hospital, near the Porta San-Gallo, receives 
lunatics and persons afflicted with chronic disorders, and is spacious, clean, and airy. 
The sick appear to be comfortably lodged and well attended, but the funds belonging 
to this charity are not sufficiently ample to supply convalescent patients with a proper 
quantity of nourishment. Detached from the rest of the building are excellent apart- 
ments for lunatics : somewhat less care, however, seems to be taken of these unhappy 
creatures than of others. 

The Spedale di Santa Maria Nuova contains upward of a thousand beds, and the 
patients are extremely well attended. 

The Spedale degl' Innocent! usually contains three thousand children, who have 
not, however, a sufficient number of nurses ; and the custom of binding up every 
newborn infant in swaddling-clothes frequently distorts the limbs, nay, sometimes 
produces mortification and death. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 269 

The column of Saravezza marble, in Via Romana, was erected by Cosimo I., in 
memory of the battle of Marciano. The granite column, near Ponte Santa Trinita, 
was taken from Antoninus's bath at Rome, and erected at Florence by Cosimo I., in 
memory of the conquest of Sienna. There is, on its summit, a figure of Justice, 
which gave rise to the following proverb: "Justice, at Florence, is too high to be 
reached." 

Florence contams three theatres : the Pergola, or opera-house, a beautiful edifice, 
well secured from fire, and originally built after the design of Pietro Tacca ; the Co- 
comero, smaller than the Pergola ; and the Teatro Nuovo. 

The Florentine mosaic-work, and the sculpture in alabaster, of the brothers Pisani, 
in the Prato, and of Bartolini, in Via della Scala, are much admired. This country 
is likewise eelebrated for a sort of marble which splits almost like slate, and, when 
polished, the variations of its yellow and brown veins represent trees, landscapes, 
and ruins of old walls and castles. Several petrifactions are also found in this 
neighborhood. 

A long residence at Florence is deemed injurious to the sight, owing, perhaps, to 
that glare which proceeds from the reflection of the sun upon white houses, and like- 
wise to the fogs which prevail here in winter. 

This city boasts the honor of having given education to Dante, Petrarch, Bocaccio, 
Gorilla, the celebrated improvisatrice, who was crowned at Rome, Americo Ves- 
pucci (whose voyages to and discoveries in the New World obtained him the honor 
of calling America by his own name), Machiavelli, Buonarotti, and a larger number 
of distinguished artists than any other place in Europe. 

The Accademia della Crusca, which has, for a length of years, been established 
at Florence, is too well known to need description ; and this academy is now united 
with two others, namely, the Fiorentina, and the Apatisti, under the name of Reale 
Accademia Fiorentina. 

We can not close our account of this city without mentioning the ceremonies of 
the Festa di San Giovanni, the patron-saint of Florence, on the vigil of which is the 
Corsa dei Cocchi, or chariot-race, probably an epitome of the ancient Etruscan 
games. This exhibition takes place in the piazza of St. Maria Novella. At the up- 
per and lower end of the piazza are obelisks, to each of which is fastened a cord, 
Avhose centre is held up by six poles, supported by men clothed in ancient costume. 
Round the piazza, in an amphitheatrical form, are scaffoldings, ornamented with 
rough fresco-paintings of urns, &c., which produce, however, a good effect ; at the 
upper end is the sovereign's box, handsomely decorated: under the scaffoldings are 
posted horse and foot guards, and round the piazza, above the scaffoldings, are bal- 
conies, windows, and even housetops, crowded with spectators. Were the chariots 
made in the ancient form, this exhibition would be far more interesting ; but the car- 
riages are modern in point of shape, and particularly clumsy, exhibiting nothing like 
antique costume, except the habit of the charioteers. 

On the morning of the Festa di San Giovanni, homage used to be paid by all the 
Tuscan cities to their prince ; but this custom is for the present abandoned, owing 
to the pageant which represented the several cities having been nearly destroyed by 
the French. 

In the afternoon of this day is the Corso dei Barberi, a race performed by horses 
without riders, and which, from the multitude of spectators, the splendor of the equi- 
pages, and the gallant appearance of the troops who attend their sovereign, is an 
extremely gay sight. The horses have fastened to their bodies little spurs, so con- 
trived that the quicker the animal gallops, the more they run into him. The race- 
ground is the longest street at Florence, where many of the spectators stand, with- 
out any defence whatsoever, frequently meeting with accidents by urging the horses 
on. When these animals reach the goal, they are stopped by a large piece of can- 
vass, which several men hold up : the sovereign then announces the winning horse, 
and thus ends this amusement, which is followed by a pretty exhibition of fireworks 
at the Palazzo Vecchio. 

The game called Pallone, a favorite exercise at Florence, also merits notice, be- 
cause it was played by the ancient Romans, who are described as striking the follis 
with the arm guarded for that purpose by a wooden, shield : the mode of playing con- 
tinues precisely the same to the present day ; and this game, like most of the ancient 
exercises, is well calculated to give courage and strength. 

The environs of Florence are extremely interesting. The usual airing of the up- 



270 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 271 

per ranks of persons is to the Royal Farms, or Cascini,^which are open to the public 
at all hours; though it is deemed unwholesome to walk, ride, or drive, in these 
beautiful farms very early in the morning, and equally prejudicial to remain there 
after sunset. 

Careggi de' Medici, about three miles from the Porta San Gallo, was the favorite 
retreat of Lorenzo il Magnifico ; and in the hall of this villa the Platonic society used 
to assemble and forns plans for those stately edifices and patriotic institutions by 
which Lorenzo benefited and embellished his country. The house stands upon an 
eminence, whence the ground falls gradually almost every way — opening, on one 
side, to a noble view of Florence ; on another, to a boundless prospect of Vald'Arno ; 
while, on another, rise mountains, covered with neat farmhouses and magnificent 
villas; and, on another, vaults Fiesole, dignified with ruins of ancient Greek and 
Roman splendor ; and, to complete the deliciousness of the situation, cool and refresh- 
ing breezes almost constantly blow, about noon, from the gulf of Spezia, and make 
the fortunate inhabitants of Careggi unconscious of oppressive heat, even in the dog- 
days: no wonder, therefore, that the elegant and wise Lorenzo should have called 
this his favorite abode. Careggi, like the generality of Tuscan villas, is built upon 
-I'ches, and consists of an immense ground-floor, with a spacious hall in the centre, 
and several surrounding rooms, every ceiling being arched, and every apartment 
cool. Above stairs is another large hall, with a handsome suite of rooms, termina- 
ted by a terrace ; and round the third story runs a gallery which commands a pros- 
pect so extensive that it seems to overlook all Tuscany. On the outside of the house 
are noble porticoes. The water at this villa is peculiarly fine, owing in some meas- 
ure to the following circumstance: When the great Lorenzo labored under his last 
illness, a famous physician of Padua was summoned to attend him ; he did so, and 
exerted his utmost skill, but to no purpose — Lorenzo died ! — when some of his house- 
hold, frantic with grief, met the unsuccessful physician, and threw him down the 
well in the quadrangle. The dead body was, of course, drawn up ; and the well so 
nicely cleaned, that the water has ever since been superexcellent. It is remarkable 
that the above-named physician, when resident at Padua, had his nativity cast, and 
was told that he would be drowned : he therefore quitted Padua, whence he Was 
frequently compelled to go by water to Venice, and came to settle at Florence, as a 
place where water-carriage was unnecessary : thus furnishing an example — 

" That human foresia;ht 



In vaia essays to 'scape th' unerring stroke 
Of Heaven-directed Destiny !" 

Poggi Iraperiale, about one mile from the Porta Romana, is a royal villa contain- 
ing an admired statue of Adonis, by Buonarotti ; and portraits of Petrarch and Laura, 
by Albert Durer. The prospects from this spot are beautiful ; and not far hence 
stands the monastery of St. Matteo in Arcetri, near which are vineyards that pro- 
duce the celebrated wine called Verdea. 

Pratolino, a royal villa about six miles from the Porta San Gallo, is famous for its 
garden, which contains Avater-works, and a statue of the Apennine sixty feet in 
height, by Giovanni di Bologna. On the way to Patrolino is the modern Campo- 
Santo of Florence. 

Fiesole, anciently Foesulae, one of the twelve great cities of Etruria, is proudly 
seated on a summit of the Apennine, in a most enchanting situation, about three 
and a half miles from the Porta Pinti, by the Majano road. Light carriages may go 
with perfect ease and safety so far as Majano, which is two thirds of the way ; but 
thence to the Francescan convent at Fiesole, the best conveyance is a traineau, which 
the peasants at Majano can always furnish. Between the latter place and Fiesole 
is the Docia, a monastery built by Buonarotti, and deliciously situated. The ancient 
Etruscan town of Fiesole is supposed to have been destroyed by ah earthquake, long 
before the period when Sylla founded a colony there. The walls of this town, how- 
ever, are in several places discoverable ; and it seems evident, from the manner in 
which they present themselves, that they w^ere thrown down by some convulsion of 
nature : they appear to have originally consisted of large stones without cement, like 
the walls of Pompeii and Passtum. Here likewise are remains of an amphitheatre, 
built on the side of a hill, as was the Grecian custom ; the shape and size of the edi- 
fice, some of the staircases, seats, and caves for the wild beasts, together with the 



272 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

reservoir of water which belonged to this theatre, may be traced. And here also is 
an ancient temple, now roofed and made into a church. Fourteen fine columns with 
Ionic capitals, the pavement, and the altar of the ancient building, still remain, 
though the altar has been moved from its original situation. This temple is sup- 
posed to have been dedicated to Bacchus. The walls of the Roman town may in 
some places be traced, as may the pavement of the streets, which resembles that of 
Pompeii. The modern town, if it may be so called, contains a cathedral, built in 
1028, apparently on the site of an ancient temple, and adorned with sculpture by 
Mino da Fiesole and Andrea Ferrucci Fiesolano, and likewise with a picture of the 
martyrdom of St. Thomas by Volterrano. Here, also, are an episcopal palace, a 
seminary, and a Francescan convent, which last stands on the spot called Rocca dei 
Fiesolani. 

Vallombrosa, about fourteen miles distant from Fiesole, is well worth notice ; not 
only because it has been immortalized by Milton, but likewise on account of the 
beauty of the country, and the noble Certosa of Vallombrosa, which still contains fine 
paintings ; though the finest were removed when the convent was suppressed. 
Vallombrosa itself has suffered very little from being under the dominion of France : 
but the Certosa is nor yet re-established. 

Lovers of wild scenery would be gratified by proceeding from Vallombrosa to the 
abbey of Camaldoli, about thirty-six miles from Florence, and thence to the convent 
of Lavernia (mons Alvernus), about fourteen miles further. The former of these 
convents was suppressed by the French ; who cut down much of the fine wood be- 
longing to it : now, however, this convent is re-established ; though its inhabitants, 
about thirty in number, are too poor to entertain visiters gratis ; and therefore travel- 
lers, after eating or sleeping under its roof, usually make a present to the community. 
The convent of Lavernia never was disturbed by the French, and contains, at present, 
about sixty Capuchins. 

The modern Florentines, like their Etrurian ancestors, are fond of learning, arts, 
and sciences ; and,- what is more estimable and endearing to foreigners, they are, 
generally speaking, good-humored, warm-hearted, and friendly. The Tuscan 
peasantry, considered collectively, are pure in their morals and pastoral in their 
manner of living; and the peculiar comeliness of both sexes is very striking, especially 
in that tract of country which extends from Florence to Peschia : but it is only among 
the peasantry that one can form a just idea of Italian beauty ; and perhaps it might 
be added, it is only among the peasantry one can form a just idea of the Italian 
character ; inhabitants of populous cities being alike, whether in London, Paris, 
Vienna, Florence, or Rome. The men are tall, robust, finely proportioned, and 
endowed with that entire self-possession which inspires respect, and perhaps a more 
favorable opinion of them than they really deserve. The women are of a middle 
stature ; and were it not for bad stays, would be well made. They have large, 
languishing black eyes, accompanied by that expressive brow which constitutes the 
.most remarkable and captivating part of an Italian countenance. Their manners 
are uncommonly graceful ; and, instead of courtesying, they gently bow their bodies, 
and kiss the hand of a superior ; a practice common, indeed, throughout Italy. When 
two young persons agree to marry, the banns are published three times in a parish 
church ; after which they receive the nuptial benediction. The bride's portion is 
paid three days before marriage, one half m wearing apparel, and the other half in 
money; which the bridegroom usually expends in purchasing jewels for his lady; 
which consist of a pearl necklace, cross and ear-rings, frequently intermixed with 
rubies ; and worth from ^150 to $200 : these jewels being considered by the man as 
the women's exclusive property; indeed, money so invested may be looked upon 
as placed in a bank ; while the interest received is that high gratification which the 
woman derives from exhibitmg her ornaments on gala-days; and these ornaments 
continue in the family for ages, unless the pressing call of necessity compel them to 
be pawned, or sold. When the xposa is taken in labor, the husband, after procuring 
medical help, deems it his next duty to get some of what is called the life-giving 
plant [aleatrice the peasants call it), which he places on her bed ; and without which 
he believes his child can not be born. This custom is derived from the Greeks. 
About a fortnight after the birth of the infant, its parents give what they denominate 
a seaponata, or christening dinner, to their relations ; on which occasion every guest 
brings a present, as was the practice at Athens ; and the dinner is served dish by 
dish, likewise an ancient custom. On the husband's demise the eldest son becomes 






CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 273 

heir-at-law ; but is obliged to portion his sisters, and either maintain his mother, or 
return her dower : all his relations frequently live with him : but the largeness of 
the family creates no confusion ; there being a superior over the men, and another 
over the women, who allot, to every person, their business, which is thus kept dis- 
tinct. A Tuscan farmer shares equally with his lord in the produce of an estate ; 
and the owner even provides seeds, plants, manure, implements of husbandry, in 
short, whatever may be requisite for the cultivation of the land. The upper class of 
farmers usually possess a horse and a market-cart, a wagon, and a pair of large 
dove-colored oxen, who draw the wagon and the plough, whose color seldom, if ever, 
varies throughout Italy, and whose beauty is as remarkable as that of their masters. 
The female peasants, besides working in the vineyards, almost equally hard with the 
men, often earn money by keeping poultry, and sometimes one or two lambs ; whose 
fleecy coats the children decorate, on the Festa di San Giovanni, with scarlet ribands 
tied in fantastic knots : and by the aid of money thus acquired, wearing-apparel, and 
other necessaries, are purchased. Shoes and stockings are deemed superfluous, and 
merely ornamental, even by the women ; who carry them in baskets on their heads, 
till they reach a town ; when these seemingly embarrassing decorations are put on : 
for the contadina is as vain of her appearance as the dama nohile ; and, no wonder 
— since the Arcadian dresses and lovely countenances of these peasants arrest every 
eye, and show them, perhaps too plainly, how strong are their powers of attraction. 
The phraseology of the Florentine peasants is wonderfully elegant, but the most re- 
markable quality of these persons is their industry, for during the hottest weather, 
they toil all day without sleep, and seldom retire early to rest ; yet, notwithstanding 
this fatigue, they live almost entirely upon bread, fruit, pulse, and the common wine 
of the country ; however, though their diet is light, and their bodily exertions are 
almost perpetual, they commonly attain old age, especially in the neighborhood of 
Fiesole. We quote the following from a traveller: — 

" About twenty years ago, I spent one summer at Careggi de Medici, and another 
at Careggi di Riccardi ; and during our residence in the latter villa, we invited all 
the surrounding peasants to a dance. Our ballroom was a lofty apartment sixty feet 
by thirty ; and in the centre of the ceiling hung a lustre, composed of such light 
materials that every puff of wind gave it motion : indeed it had the appearance of 
being continually turned round by an invisible hand ; this lustre we filled with 
candles; and the wails, which were adorned with full-length portraits of the Med- 
ici princes, we likewise decorated with festoons of vines, olive-branches, flowers, and 
lamps, so that the whole apartment resembled an illuminated arbor. At sunset, on 
the appointed day, our guests appeared altogether upon a lawn leading to the villa, 
preceded by their own band of music : and no sooner did this procession reach our 
hall-door, than the musicians struck up a lively tune, while the dancers as they en- 
tered, formed a quadrille, which would have been applauded on any opera-stage.. 
When this dance was finished, the female peasants advanced in couples, to the top 
of the hall where we were seated, paying their compliments to us with as much 
ease and elegance as if they had been highly educated, and then commencing another 
quadrille, different from, but quite as pretty as the first. With a succession of these 
dances we were amused till supper ; after which our visiters who had been regaled 
with punch, a liquor they particularly relish, came once more to us ; when the 
women returned thanks for their entertainment, kissed our hands, and, presenting 
their own to their partners, bowed and retired." 

We can not dismiss the subject of Tuscan peasantry, without another quotation 
from the same writer, which may perhaps serve to show the grateful and delicate 
turn of mind possessed by these people: — 

" One day as we were walking near Careggi, we observed a girl, apparently about 
fourteen years of age, watching a flock of goats, and at the same time spinning with 
great diligence ; her tattered garments bespoke extreme poverty ; but her air was 
peculiarly dignified, and her countenance so interesting, that we were irresistibly 
impelled to present her with a few crazie. Joy and gratitude instantly animated her 
fine eyes while she exclaimed: 'Never till this moment, was I worth so much 
money !' Struck by her words and manner, we inquired her name, likewise asking 
where her parents lived ? ' My name is Teresa,' replied she, ' but, alas ! I have no 
parents.' — ' No parents ! who then takes care of you V — * The Madonna.' — ' But who 
brought you up V — ' A peasant in Vallombrosa ; I was her nurse-child, and I have 
heard her say ray parents delivered me into her care, but that she did not know their 



274 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



name. As I grew up she almost starved me ; aad, what was worse, beat me so 
cruelly, that at length, I ran away from her.' — ' And where do you live now?' — 
' Yonder in the plain,' pointing to Val d'Arno, ' I have fortunately met with a mistress 
who feeds me, and lets me sleep in her barn; this is her flock.' — ' And are you happy 
now V — * yes ! very happy. At first, to be sure, it was lonesome sleeping in the 
barn by myself; 'tis so far from the house, but I am used to it now ; and indeed I 
have not much time for sleep ; being obliged to work at night when I come home ; 
and I always go out with the goats at daybreak ; however, I do very well, for I get 
plenty of bread and grapes ; and my mistress never beats me.' — After learning thus 
much, Ave presented our new acquaintance with a paul — but to describe the ecstasy 
this gift produced is impossible. ' Now,' cried she (when a flood of tears had enabled 
her to speak), 'now I can purchase a corona — now I can go to mass, and petition 
the Madonna to preserve my kind benefactresses !' 

" On taking leave of this interesting creature, we desired she would sometimes pay 
us a visit ; our invitation, hoAvever, was only answered by a bow ; and, to our regret, 
we neither saw nor heard of her again, till the day before our departure from Careggi ; 
when it appeared that, immediately after her interview with us, she had been attack- 
ed by the small-pox, and was only just recovered. 

" During the next summer, although we again resided in the same neighborhood, 
we for a considerable time, saw nothing of Teresa. One day, however, we observed 
a beautiful white goat browsing near our house, and on going out, perceived our 
protege with her whole flock. We now inquired, almost angrily, why she had 
not visited us before. 'I was fearful of obtruding,' replied the scrupulous girl; 
'but I have watched you at a distance, ladies, ever since your return; and I could 
not forbear coming rather nearer than usual to-day, in the hope that you might no- 
tice me.' We gave her a scudo, and again desired she would sometimes call upon 
us. ' No, ladies,' replied she, 'I am not properly dressed to enter your doors ; but, 
with the scudo you have kindly given me, I shall immediately purchase a stock of 
flax, and then, should the Madonna bless ixie with health to work hard, I may soon 
be able, by selling my thread, to buy decent apparel, and wait upon you, clothed with 
the fruits of your bounty.' And indeed, it was not long ere Ave had the pleasure of 
seeing her come lo visit us, neatly dressed, and exhibiting a picture of content." 




Madonna deHa Seggiola, by Raffaelle. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 275 



CHAPTER XII.— ITALY. 

Rome, although visited for a thousand years by various calamities, is still the most 
majestic of cities. The charm of beauty and dignity still lingers around the ruins of 
ancient, as well as the splendid structures of modern Rome, and brilliant recollec- 
tions of past ages are connected with the monuments which meet the passing trav- 
eller at every step. The characteristics of ancient and modern times are nowhere 
so distinctly contrasted as within the walls of Rome. 

Ancient Rome was built upon several hills, which are now scarcely discoverable, 
on account of the vast quantities of rubbish with which the valleys are filled. The 
eastern bank of the Tiber was so low as to subject the city to inundations. The extent 
and population were very different at different times. We speak here of the most 
flourishing period. Vopiscus, in his life of Aurelian, relates that the circumference 
of the city, after its last enlargement by that emperor, was 50,000 paces, for which 
we must probably read 15,000, as Pliny estimates the circumference, just before the 
reign of Aurelian, at 13,000 paces, and the accounts of modern travellers agree with 
this statement. The inhabitants at that time may have amounted to about 300,000. 
The number of inhabitants enjoying the rights of citizenship was never more than 
30,000. Romulus surrounded the city with a wall, or rather with an earthern 
mound. Of the four gates which he built — the Porta Carmentalis, the Pandana or 
the Saturnia, the Roman gate, and the Mugionia — the Carmentalis alone remains. 
The wall ran from Mount Palatine, at the foot of Mount Aventine, to the Tiber ; 
one part of it then extended between the Tiber and the Capitoline hill, and on the 
other side separated the Palatine from the Coelian, Esquiline, Viminal, and Quirinal 
hills, and finally terminated at the capitol. ♦ 

The second, or the Servian wall, was much more extensive, and embraced all the 
abovementioned hills on the southern and eastern sides; ran round under Mount 
Aventine to the Tiber ; thence passed to the west side of the river, where, being 
continued in the form of a triangle, as far as the summit of Janiculum, it separated 
this from the other hills ; and then, proceeding to the southern end of the island of 
the Tiber in a direct course, embraced the whole body of the buildings beyond the 
river. On the north side of the city, the old walls of Romulus were mostly pre- 
served ; but the old wall terminated at the summit of Quirinalis, while the Servian 
extended to its eastermost extremity, and then ran round the other hills toward the 
east. The Pincian hill. Campus Martins, and the Vatican hill, therefore, lay entirely 
outside of it. The third, or Aurelian wall, likewise included all these parts. It ran 
from the northeastern extremity of Quirinalis, northwardly ; embraced the Campus 
Martius, which it separated from the Pincian hill ; extended beyond the latter to the 
river; enclosed, beyond the river, the Vatican, in a large bend ; and then joined the 
old wall, which reached to the summit of Janiculum ; so that the island of the Tiber 
was now contained within the limits of the city. In so large a circuit, the number 
of gates must have been considerable. Pliny enumerates thirty-seven, of which 
several yet remain, but under different names. 

Ancient Rome had several bridges, of which some are still passable. The lowest 
and oldest bridge Avas the Pons Sublicius, which led from Mount Aventine into the 
valley below Janiculum, and is no longer standing. The second led from the forum 
to Janiculum, and was called Pons Senatorius, because the solemn procession of the 
senate passed over it, when the Sybilline books were to be carried from Janiculum. 
It was the first stone bridge in Rome, and still exists in i-uins, under the name of 
Mary's bridge (Ponte Rotto). Two bridges led to the island in the Tiber, one from 
the east, and the other from the west side ; the former was called Pons Fabricius 
(now Ponte di Quattro Capi) and the latter Pons Cestius (now Bartholomew's bridge). 
A fourth bridge. Pons Janiculensis (now Ponte Sisto), led from the Campus Martius, 
near the theatre of Marcellus, to Janiculum. The ruins of the fifth. Pons Vatica- 
nus, or Triumphalis, may be seen near the hospital St. Spirito, and led from the Cam- 
pus Martius to the Vatican. The jElian bridge (Pons ^lius, now the beautiful 
bridge of St. A^ngelo) led to the Moles Adriani. Beyond the wall, and above the 



276 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Pincian hill, was the seventh bridge, Pons Milvius (now Ponte MoUe), built by 
JEmilius Scaurus, after the time of Sylla. 

The streets of Rome, even after the city was rebuilt under Nero, were very irreg- 
ular. The public squares, of which there were a great number, were distinguished 
into arese, squares in front of the palaces and temples ; campi, open places, covered 
with grass, which served for popular assemblies, public processions for the exercise 
of the youth in arms, and for the burning of the dead bodies ; and fora, which were 
paved, and served either for the assembling of the people for the transaction of pub- 
lic affairs, or for the sale of goods, or for ornament. The earliest division of Rome 
was made by Servius TuUius ; he divided it into four quarters, which he called Tribus 
Urbanse ; they were the Tribus Suburbana, CoUina, Esquilina, and Palatina. This 
division continued till the reign of Augustus, who divided the city into fourteen re- 
gions, according to which ancient Rome is generally described: 1st, Porta Capena ; 
2d, Coeli Montium ; 3d, Isis et Serapis, or Moneta ; 4th, Via Sacra, afterward Tem- 
plum Pacis ; 5th Esquilina cum colle et turri Viminali ; 6ih, Alta Semita ; 7th, Via 
Lata ; 8th, Forum Romanum ; 9th, Circus Flaminius; 10th, Palatium ; 11th, Circus 
Maximus; 12th, Piscina Publica ; 13th, Aventinus; 14th, Trans Tiberim. The 
temples, theatres, amphitheatres, circuses, naumachise, porticoes, basilicse, baths, 
gardens, triumphal arches, columns, sewers, aqueducts, sepulchres, &c., are the prin- 
cipal public buildings and monuments. 

The Colosseum forms a very extraordinary monument of the barbaric splendor 
which characterized ancient Rome. It was commenced by Vespasian, and completed 
by Titus (A. D. 79). This enormous building occupied only three years in its erec- 
tion. Cassiodorus affirms that this magnificent monument of folly cost as much as 
would have been required for the building of a capital city. We have the means of 
distinctly ascertaining its dimensions and its accommodations from the great mass 
of wall that still remains entire ; and although the very clamps of iron and brass 
that held together the ponderous stones of that wonderful edifice, were removed by 
Gothic plunderers, and succeeding generations have resorted to it as to a quarry for 
their temples and their palaces? yet the " enormous skeleton" still stands, to mark its 
original gigantic character. 

The Colosseum, which is of an oval form, occupies the space of nearly six acres. 
"Ii may justly be said to have been the most imposing building, from its apparent 
magnitude, in the world ; the pyramids of Egypt can only be compared with it in 
the extent of their plan, as they cover nearly the same surface." The greatest 
length is six hundred and twenty feet ; the greatest breadth, five hundred and thir- 
teen feet. The outer wall is one hundred and fifty-seven feet high, in its whole ex- 
tent. The exterior wall is divided into four stories, each ornamented with one of the 
orders of architecture. The cornice of the upper story is perforated, for the purpose 
of inserting wooden .masts, which passed also through the architrave and frieze, and 
descended to a row of corbels immediately above the upper range of windows, on 
• which are holes to receive the-masts. These masts were for the purpose of attach- 
ing cords to, for sustaining the awning which defended the spectators from the sua 
or rain. Two corridors ran all round the building, leading to staircases which as- 
cended to the several stories ; and the seats which descended toward the arena, sup- 
ported throughout upon eighty arches, occupied so much of the space that the clear 
opening of the present inner wall, next the arena, is only two hundred and eighty- 
seven feet by one hundred and eighty feet. Immediately above and around the 
arena was the podium, elevated about twelve or fifteen feet, on which were seated 
the emperor, senators, ambassadors of foreign nations, and other distinguished per- 
sonages in that city of distinctions. From the podium to the top of the second story 
were seats of marble for the equestrian order ; above the second story, the seats ap- 
pear to have been constructed of wood. 

The order and arrangement of the seats are still visible, and nothing can be more 
admirably contrived than the vomitories for facilitating the ingress and egress of all 
classes to and from their respective seats without disorder or confusion. There 
was, it is thought, an upper gallery for the multitude, of which there are now 
no' remains. It must, indeed, when filled, have offered a most imposing specta- 
cle. The very lowest computation allows that it would contain eighty thousand 
spectators. 

Such is the last and noblest monument of Roman grandeur and of Roman crime, 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



277 




278 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

the scene of the greatest magnificence, and of the greatest barbarity, which the world 
ever saw — the stupendous fabric 

" Which on its public shows unpeopled Rome, 
And held uncrowded nations in its womb." 

" Never," says an eloquent observer, " did human art present to the eye a fabric 
so well calculated, from its size and form, to surprise and delight. Let the spectator 
first place himself to the north, and contemplate that side which depredation, bar- 
barism, and ages, have spared : he will behold with admiration its wonderful extent, 
well-proportioned stories, and flying lines, that retire and vanish without break or 
interruption. Next, let him turn to the south, and examine those stupendous arches 
which, stripped as they are of their external decorations, still astonish us by their 
solidity and duration. Then let him enter, range through the lofty arcades, and, as- 
cending the vaulted seats, consider the vast mass of ruin that surrounds him — insu- 
lated walls, immense stones suspended in the air, arches covered v/ith weeds and 
shrubs, vaults opening upon other ruins ; in short, above, below, and around, one vast 
collection of magnificence and devastation, of grandeur and decay." 

Gibbon, the historian, has given a splendid description, in his twelfth book, of the 
exhibitions of the Colosseum; but he acknowledges his obligations to Montaigne, 
who, says the historian, " gives a very just and lively view of Roman magnificence 
in these spectacles." Our readers will, we doubt not, be gratified by the quaint, but 
most appropriate sketch of the old philosopher of France: — 

" It was doubtless a fine thing to bring and plant within the theatre a great num- 
ber of vast trees, with all their branches in their full verdure, representing a great 
shady forest, disposed in excellent order, and the first day to throw into it a thousand 
ostriches, a thousand stags, a thousand boars, and a thousand fallow-deer, to be killed 
and disposed of by the people ; the next day to cause a hundred great lions, a hun- 
dred leopards, and three hundred bears, to be killed in his presence ; and for the 
third day, to make three hundred pair of fencers to fight it out to the last, as the 
emperor Probus did. It was also very fine to see those vast amphitheatres, all faced 
with marble without, curiously wrought with figures and statues, and the inside 
sparkling with rare decorations and enrichments ; all the sides of this vast space 
filled and environed from the bottom to the top, with three or four score ranks of 
seats, all of marble also, and covered with cushions, where a hundred thousand men 
might sit placed at their ease ; and the place below, where the plays were played, 
to make it by art first open and cleft into chinks, representing caves that vomited out 
the beasts designed for the spectacle ; and then, secondly, to be overflowed with a 
profound sea, full of sea-monsters, and loaded with ships-of-war, to represent a naval 
battle ; and thirdly, to make it dry and even again for the combats of the gladiators ; 
and for the fourth scene, to have it sirewed with vermilion and storax, instead of sand, 
there to make a solemn feast for all that infinite number of people — the last act of 
one only day. 

'• Sometimes they have made a high mountain advance itself, full of fruit-trees 
and other flourishing sorts of woods, sending down rivulets of water from the top, as 
from the mouth of a fountain ; other whiles, a great ship was seen to come rolling 
in, which opened and divided of itself, and, after having disgorged from the hold four 
or five hundred beasts for fight, closed again, and vanished without help. At other 
times, from the floor of this place, they made spouts of perfumed waters dart their 
streams upward, and so high as to besp'rinkle all that infinite multitude. To defend 
themselves from th^ injuries of the weather, they had that vast place one while cov- 
ered over with purple curtains of needlework, "and by-and-by with silk of another 
color, which they could draw ofi'or on in a moment, as they liad a mind. The net- 
work, also, that was set before the people io defend them from the violence of these 
turned-out beasts, was also woven of gold." 

_" If there be anything excusable in such excesses as these," continues Montaigne, 
" it is where the novelty and invention create more wonder than expense." Fortu- 
nately for the real enjoyments of mankind, even under the sway of a Roman despot, 
" the novelty and invention" had very narrow limits when applied to matters so ut- 
terly unworthy and unintellectual as'the cruel sports of the amphitheatre. Probus, 
indeed, transplanted trees to the arena, so that it had the appearance of a verdant 
grove ; and Severus introduced four hundred ferocious animals in one ship sailing in 
the little lake which the arena formed. But on ordinary occasions, profusion — taste- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



279 




280 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

less, haughty, and uninventive profusion — the gorgeousness of brute power, the pomp 
of satiated luxury — these constituted the only claim to the popular admiration. If 
Titus exhibited five thousand wild beasts at the dedication of the amphitheatre, 
Trajan bestowed ten thousand on the people at the conclusion of the Dacian war. 
If the younger Gordian collected together bears, elks, zebras, ostriches, boars, and 
wild horses, he was an imitator only of the spectacles of Carinus, in which the rarity 
of the animals was as much considered as their fierceness. Gibbon has well re- 
marked: "While the populace gazed with stupid wonder on the splendid show, the 
naturalist might indeed observe the figure and properties of so many different spe- 
cies, transported from every part of the ancient world into the amphitheatre of 
Rome. But this accidental benefit, which science might derive from folly, is surely 
insufficient to justify such a wanton abuse of the public riches." The prodigal waste 
of the public riches, however, was not the weightiest evil of the sports of the circus. 
The public morality was sacrificed upon the same shrine as its wealth. The de- 
struction of beasts became a fit preparation for the destruction of men. A small 
number of those unhappy persons who engaged in fight with the wild animals of the 
arena were trained to these dangerous exercises, as are the matadors of Spain at the 
present day. These men were accustomed to exhaust the courage of the beast by 
false attacks ; to spring on a sudden past him, striking him behind before he could 
recover his guard ; to cast a cloak over his eyes, and then despatch or bind him at 
this critical moment of his terror ; or to throw a cupful of some chymical preparation 
into his gaping mouth, so as to produce the stupefaction of intense agony. But the 
greater part of the human beings who were exposed to these combats, perilous even 
to the most skilful, were disobedient slaves and convicted malefactors. _ The Chris- 
tians, during their persecutions, constituted a very large number of the' latter class. 
The Roman power was necessarily intolerant: the assemblies of the new religion 
became objects of dislike and suspicion ; the patience and constancy of the victims 
increased the fury of their oppressors ; and even such a man as the younger Pliny 
held that their obstinacy alone was deserving of punishment. Thus, then, the im- 
perial edicts against the early Christians furnished more stimulating exhibitions to 
the popular appetite for blood, than the combat of lion with lion, or gladiator with 
gladiator. The people were taught to believe that they were assisting at a solemn 
act of justice, and tliey came, therefore, to behold the tiger and the leopard tear the 
quivering limb of the aged and the young, of the strong and the feeble, without a de- 
sire to rescue the helpless, or to succor the brave. 

The Pantheon may next be described. It was originally dedicated to all the gods, 
but is now converted into a church, and dedicated to the virgin and all the martyrs. 
It has been generally supposed to have been built by Agrippa, son-in-law to Augus- 
tus, because it has the following inscription on the frieze of the portico : " M. Agrip- 
pa, L. F. Cos. Tertium fecit." Several antiquaries, however, have supposed that the 
Pantheon existed in the times of the commonwealth, and that it was only embellished 
.by Agrippa, who added the portico. 

The form of this magnificent building, which is represented on the next page, 
is round or cylindrical, and its roof or dome is spherical. Its interior diameter 
measures one hundred and forty-four feet, and the elevation of the eye of the cupola, 
through which the edifice receives light, measures the same from the pavement. It 
is of the Corinthian order. The inner circumference is divided into seven grand 
niches, wrought in the walls of the building : six of these are flat at the top, but the 
seventh, which is opposite the entrance, is arched. Before each niche are two col- 
umns of antique yellow marble, fluted, and of one entire block, making in all the 
finest internal colonnade in Rome. The whole wall of the temple, as high as the 
grand cornice inclusive, is cased with a great variety of precious marble in compart- 
ments. The frieze is entirely of porphyry. 

Above the grand cornice rises an attic, in which were wrought, at equal distances, 
fourteen oblong niches. Between each niche were originally raised four marble pi- 
lasters, and between the pilasters marble-tables of various kinds. This attic had a 
complete entablature, but the cornice projected less than the grand order below. Im- 
,mediately from the cornice springs the spherical roof, divided by bands which cross 
each other like the meridians and parallels of an artificial terrestrial globe. The 
spaces between the bands increase ia size as they approach ihe top of the roof, to 
which, however, they do not reach, there being a considerable plain space between 
them and the great opening. That so bold a roof might be as light as possible, the 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



281 







The Pantheon. 

architect formed the substance of the spaces between the bands of nothing but lime 
and pumice-stones. The walls below were decorated with lead and brass, and works 
of carved silver over them, and the roof was covered on the outside with plates of 
gilded bronze. There was an ascent from the springing of the ro,of to the very sum- 
mit by a flight of seven stairs. The portico is composed of sixteen columns of gran- 
ite four feet in diameter, eight of which stand in front with an equal columni?ition all 
along. The ascent of the portico is by eight or nine steps. 

Such was the Pantheon, the richness of which induced Pliny to rank it among the 
wonders of the world. It was repaired by Domitian and Adrian. But the Pantheon 
is more indebted to Septimius Severus than to any one since its erection. Sepiimius 
bestowed essential reparation upon it, as appears from an inscription upon the archi- 
trave. This temple subsisted in all its grandeur till the incursion of Alaric. Zosi- 
mus relates that the Romans, having engaged to furnish this barbarian with 5,000 
pounds of gold and 30,000 pounds of silver, upon condition that he should depart from 
their walls, and it being impossible to raise those sums, they stripped the temples of 
their statues and ornaments of gold and silver. Genseric, king of the Vandals, thiny- 
nine years after, took away part of their marbles, and loaded one of his ships with 
statues. 

The Christian emperors had issued orders for demolishing the pagan temples, but 
the Romans spared the Pantheon, which suffered no damage from the zeal of the 
pontiffs, or the indignation of the saints, before the first siege of Rome by Alaric. It 
remained so rich till about the year 655 as to excite the avarice of Constantine II., 
who came from Constantinople and pillaged the Pantheon of its brazen ornaments, 
which he transported to Syracuse, where they soon fell into the hands of the Sara- 
cens. About fifty years before this, Pope Boniface IV. had obtained the Pantheon 
of the emperor Phocas to make a church of; but the artists of these parts spoiled 
everything they laid their hands upon. After the devastations committed by the bar- 
barians, Rome was contracted within a narrow compass. The Pantheon standing 
at the entrance of the Campus Martins, was surrounded with houses, which spoiled 
the fine prospect of it, and some of them were built close to its walls. Pedlars' sheds 
were erected within its portico, and the intercolumniations were bricked up, to the 
irreparable injury of the matchless columns, of which some lost part of their capi- 
tals, and others were chiselled out six or seven inches deep, and as many feet high, 
to let in posts. In this state the edifice remained till the pontificate of Eugene IV., 
who ordered all the houses to be cleared away, when the miserable barracks in the 
portico were taken down. Benedict II. covered it with lead, which Nicholas V. re- 
newed in a better style. Raffaelle Urban left a considerable sum for the reparation 
of the Pantheon, where his tomb is placed. La Vagna, Udino, Annibal Caracci, 
Flamingo, Vacca, and Archangelo Corelli, did the same. 



282 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Pope Urban VIII. was a patron of the arts. He repaired this edifice ; but while 
he built up with one hand, he pulled down with the other. He caused two belfries, 
of a wretched taste, to be erected on the ancient front-work, and divested ihe portico 
of all the remains of its ancient grandeur, viz., the brazen coverture of the cross- 
beams, which amounted to a prodigious quantity. This pope, who was of the fam- 
ily of Barberioi, presented as much of this metal to his nephew as was sufficient for 
the decoration of several new palaces. 

Alexander VII. did what Urban had neglected to do. He ordered search to be 
made for pillars to match those of the portico of the Pantheon, and some were found 
of the very same model. He also caused all the old houses to be pulled down, and 
the rubbish to be cleared away which covered the steps and the bases of the pillars. 
Clement IX. enclosed the portico with iron rails. Several succeeding popes have 
added to its decorations, which were all in the taste of the times they were done in, 
and it may well be supposed that the body of the edifice and its architecture gained 
nothing by the additions. 

The wealth and power of Rome in the fifteenth century is best exhibited by a ref- 
erence to the splendid architectural edifice of St. Peter's, raised by the munificence 
of various popes, and which still remains a lasting monument of the skill of Michael 
Angelo, and other eminent Italian architects. 

The approach to this extraordinary structure is crowded by mean edifices, but with 
the immense advantage of being almost constantly seen through the medium of a pure 
transparent atmosphere, it forms a grand and conspicuous object in almost every dis- 
tant view of the city of which it is the glorious crown. It may be seen from the hills 
of Baccano on the north, from the lower Apennines on the east, and from the volca- 
nic ridges of the Alban mount on the south ; and in all these views it rises up from 
the broad flat of the Campagna, in which the "seven hills" and other elevations in 
the vicinage of Rome are of themselves ridges or breaks scarcely more perceptible 
than a distant wave at sea. It seems to reign in solitary majesty over all the dead, 
and for the most part uncultivated, level which surrounds the city ; and is, perhaps, 
never so impressive an object as when seen thence, particularly on the stated festi- 
vals, oa the evenings of which it is suddenly, nay, almost instantaneously, covered 
with a flood of light. The reader may conceive this efi"ect by fancying a magnificent 
dome, lighted up by innumerable lamps and torches ; but he must add, in the 
case of St. Peter's, " the deep-blue sky of Rome," without a cloud, without a vapor 
or wreath of smoke. 

In general effect, however, it appears to most advantage from elevated points 
within or near the city, where other objects can be brought into comparison with it. 
The tower of the Capitol, the front of the Quirinal palace, the bridge of St. Angelo, 
and the fields behind St. Peter's in the direction of the Villa Pampili Dorio, are all 
fine points of view; but the best of these near points is that from the public walks 
on the Pincian hill, and the best moment for enjoying it is toward sunset on a sum- 
mer evening, as the dark mass, then presents a bold and graceful outline against the 
bright western sky, and the horizontal rays of the sun pierce through and brilliantly 
illuminate the windows of the lantern under the cupola, thus producing a truly ma- 
gical effect. It is here, and on the bridge of St. Angelo, that the people of Rome 
chiefly resort on the great festivals, when the cupola is illuminated. This splendid 
exhibition occurs on the eve, and on the evening of St. Peter's day, and on the anni- 
versary evening of the reigning pope's election. 

On a still nearer view, or one taken from the piazza or square of St. Peter's, though 
the temple itself loses from the heavy, awkward structure of the front, which more 
than half hides the cupola, while it is out of harmony with the general form of the 
church, yet the scene, from its accessories, is one of imposing sublimity. St. Peter's 
there presents itself as the background of a noble and spacious amphitheatre formed 
by a splendid elliptical colonnade of a quadruple range of nearly three hundred pil- 
lars. 

The immediate environs of the cathedral are of a dull and gloomy character, but 
when the spectator arrives at St. Peter's square, the whole edifice is at once presented 
to the eye. 

A sweeping forest of columns surrounds the outer court with the swell of an am- 
phitheatre, and the circling colonnades are aptly inscribed with the metaphoric 
promise : " There shall be a tabernacle, for a shadow from the heat, and for a covert 
from storm and from rain." They lead to ascending corridors, which form an inner 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



283 




284 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

court four hundred feet square, and open into either end of the portico of the church, 
under the pathetic invitation : " Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, 
to the house of the God of Jacob." 

An Egyptian obelisk of a single piece of red granite, originally brought from He- 
liopolis by the emperor Caligula, occupies the centre of the outer court. It is 
eighty-five feet high, and nine fe.et square at the base, and on either side of the stu- 
pendous cone an ample fountain spouts a column of water, which showers into a 
marble basin twenty feet in diameter. 

Six hundred feet beyond this glittering screen, over a quarry of steps, rises the gi- 
gantic frontispiece. It is of freestone, four hundred feet long, and one hundred and 
fifty high, supported by twelve columns of the Corinthian order, whose broad entab- 
lature is surmounted by an attic story, and crowned with a balustrade. 

At a distance of four hundred feet within the massy frontispiece, is seen to tower 
aloft the immense rotunda of the dome, surmounted, at an elevation of four hundred 
and fifty feet, with a lantern, ball, and cross. 

The great dome is accompanied by two lesser ones, which, though fifty feet in 
diameter, and a hundred high, are scarcely noticed in the stupendous outline; for 
such is the charm of proportion, that the greatness of the parts is lost in the immen- 
sity of the whole. It is only by comparison with objects of known dimensions, that 
the visiter can form an idea of , the unparalleled magnitude of the columns, the en- 
tablature, or the statues of the frontispiece. The spectator must actually enter 
the doors of the portico, which he will reckon diminutive, to convince himself that 
they are wide enough for entering and retiring crowds to intermingle upon their 
thresholds. 

Within the portico, an interior arcade, running the whole length of the front, 
and forming the foot of the prostrate cross, is fifty feet wide and five hundred long, 
including the width of the two corridors at the ends, in each of which appears an 
equestrian statue: on the right Constantine the Great, on the left Charlemagne, at 
distant periods the champions of the church. 

A stranger, at his first visit to St. Peter's, cursorily glances over the marble col- 
umns, the brazen gates, and the stuccoed arches of this magnificent vestibule, impa- 
tient to open on the middle aisle, six hundred feet long, ninety wide, and a hundred 
and fifty high. But at first sight of the Corinthian arcade, glittering in white and 
gold, it does not strike the disappointed visiter as very long, very wide, or very high, 
for neither length, breadth, nor height, predominates in the proportions of the nave, 
and he doubts for a moment whether he beholds the largest as well as the most 
beautiful structure that ever was erected by human hands. 

He compares St. Peter's to the rival edifices of London, Milan, or Constantinople, 
and scarcely suspects his error till he approaches one of the fonts, and perceives 
that the cherubs which support them are chubby giants. He looks up again at the 
resplendent vault, and discovers that he can not distinctly perceive the variegated 
fretwork of the immense compartments. 

The chapel of the sacred host is a most beautiful edifice, and nearly the first that 
attracts the notice of the stranger. Within the iron gates of the chapel, interleaved 
with glass, to reflect the illuminations of the altar, is seen a tabernacle for the Host, 
on either side of which a golden angel extends his protecting wings, in imitation of 
the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy-seat. Directly opposite is the chapel 
of the choir, a noble apartment forty feet by fifty, with a splendid mosaic over the 
altar, representing the Virgin Mother, under the mistaken emblems of the spouse of 
Christ: the wonder that was seen in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, having 
the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. 

The most pompous exhibition of ceremony or parade rather diminishes than in- 
creases the effect of this wonderful edifice. It is never more impressive than when 
silence reigns over its vast vacuities, unbroken but by distant and solitary footsteps 
retiring for the night, the unnoticed windows, at the approach of evening, shedding 
a mystic twilight, undazzled by the glimmering lamps that twinkle around the 
sanctuary. 

Beneath the vast circumference of this aerial canopy there reigns day and night, 
summer and winter — that even temperature so favorable to meditation, since the 
double doors never admit external air enough to alter the medium of thirty-five mil- 
lions of cubic feet, and the thickness of the walls renders them impervious to heat or 
moisture. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 




286 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

The visiter ascends to the summit of this prodigious edifice, by the innumerable 
evolutions of a spiral ascent of no greater inclination than will admit of the use of 
mules, for the purposes of the building. Near the top of it are inscribed the names 
of all the foreign potentates who in the course of two centuries have done homage to 
the imperial pile. 

This winding stairway terminates at the flat surface of the roof in a room for the 
custodi, from which you look out upon a village of belfries and cupolas, concealed 
from below by the massy balustrade, excepting the great dome, which has been 
boldly denominated the sun of the Vatican, with its attendant satellites, and a gal- 
axy of statues, whose gigantic proportions must be measured by a standard of 
twenty feet. 

Two external walks or galleries surround the basis of the dome, one of which is 
upon the mouldings of the basement, and the other, ten feet higher, is continued 
through the projecting abutments, which support the drum of the vaults ; these gal- 
leries are three hundred paces in circumference, little less than the eighth part of a 
mile. From the former you pass by a long entry into the inner gallery, at a height 
of two hundred feet from the floor. This is four hundred feet round, and from its 
iron railing the visiter may look down with safety upon the brazen canopy of the 
altar (itself ninety feet high), and into the sunken recesses of the sanctuary, surround- 
ed by kneeling devotees. 

At this elevation may be distinctly seen the mosaics of the four Evangelists, with 
their appropriate symbols, occupying the angles which support the drum of the dome. 
Of their enormous magnitude an idea may be formed by that of the cross keys, an 
ornamental appendage, which is said to measure twenty-two feet in length. The 
cylindrical part of the dome is ornamented by coupled pilasters between the windows, 
upon the continued basement of which are cherubs supporting festoons. Returning 
to the passage, you turn to the right or left, for the avenues are double, and wind 
round the imperceptible circle, between an outer and an inner wall, until you come 
to a spiral staircase, by which you mount perpendicularly fifty feet higher, and enter 
another gallery within the dome, just under the spring of the vault. 

From this elevated scaflfold the visiter can perceive the coarseness of the mosaic 
cubes, with which are formed the gigantic figures of the concave dome, and you may 
thrust your hand into a gaping fissure invisible from below. 

At the summit of the dome blind windows occasionally open into the lantern, it- 
self a cupola twenty feet in diameter and fifty high. From this stupendous eleva- 
tion, little less than three hundred and fifty feet, if you venture to look down upon 
the pavement, the processions passing to and fro upon the chequered floor remind you 
of ants upon a mole-hill, and so contracted is the perspective of the well of the dome, 
that you mistrust with apprehension the perpendicularity of the walls, and suspect 
the sufficiency of the lessening pillars to support the superincumbent mass. 

A rushing wind sets constantly from below whenever these windows are opened, 
and you gladly mount ten feet higher to ihe outer gallery of the lantern, from which 
you behold Rome at your feet, and stretch your eye over the deserted plains of the 
Campagna to the Apennines on one side, and the Mediterranean on the other. Here 
you ascend fifty feet higher by another flight of narrow steps, turned within one of 
the abutments which support the lantern, barely wide enough to admit one person 
at a time. This winding passage lands you upon the floor of a conical chamber, di- 
rectly oper the centre of the dome, from which you pass into the upper gallery of the 
cupola, or ascend, by a perpendicular ladder, into the hollow of the ball. 

Within this brazen globe, a man of six feet high may stretch out his arms, or 
stand on tiptoe, while through accidental crevices in the beaten copper he perceives 
the tremendous height at which he is soaring in the air. It takes ten minutes to de- 
scend from this stupendous elevation ; and when you emerge from its dark passage 
and winding stairways, you are glad to find yourself once more upon the surface of 
the earth. 

Such is this unrivalled monument of modern art, which bears no marks of age or 
incongruity, although it was three hundred years in building, by the hands of twenty 
different architects. 

Begun under Nicholas V., in 1450 ; it was carried on by Bramante, under Julius 
[I. ; by Sangallo and Peruzzi, under Leo X. ; and by Michael Angelo, who moulded 
the immense concavity of the dome, under Paul III. ; though he died before it was 
finished by Fontana, in the pontificate of Sixtus V. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



287 




288 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Succeeding popes and succeeding architects successively added the lesser domes, 
the portico, the piazzas, and the vestry, intermediately ornamenting the interior with 
brass and marble, and gradually securing the paintings from the touch of time, by 
incorporating them with the walls in everlasting mosaic. 

Exclusive of the dome and piazzas, St. Peter's church is twice as broad and twice 
as high as the temple of Jupiter Olympus, one of the wonders of antiquity, that still 
exhibits to the wondering traveller silent and solitary porticoes stretching over the 
prostrate plains of Greece. St. Paul's, at London, the only edifice of modern times 
with Avhich it can be worthily compared, does not enclose within its vast vacuities, 
including its porticoes, its turrets, and its dome, one fourth part of the cubic square 
of St. Peter's, the corridors of which would encompass Ludgate-hill. 

It has been observed that Pioman greatness manifested itself most conspicuously 
in the sewers, the aqueducts, and the high-roads. Of these, the first were arched 
galleries, carried under the city in every direction, and wide enough for a loaded 
cart or a boat to pass through them without inconvenience. These all communi- 
cated with the principal sewer (called Cloaca Maxima), which was sixteen feet 
broad and thirty feet high. The latter still exists, though almost choked up with 
rubbish and weeds. It is seen in an engraving on a subsequent page. 

Ancient Rome was supplied with v^rater by nine aqueducts. These extended 
through a distance of from twelve to sixty-two miles, and conveyed whole rivers 
through mountains and over plains, sometimes under ground, and sometimes sup- 
ported by arches, to the centre of the city. Of these aqueducts three are sufficient 
to supply modern Rome with a profusion of water for private as well as public pur- 
poses. What a prodigious quantity, then, must have been poured into the ancient 
city ! The ruins of some of these ponderous edifices, toAvering far above all the 
modern buildings, attract the eye, on the Celian and Esquiline mounts : but more 
particularly in vast broken lines, extending over the solitary plains adjacent to 
the city. 

Rome was indebted to Appius Claudius for her aqueducts, and to the public spirit 
and talents of the same censor she owed also her roads. In the Roman forum stood 
a pillar, on which were inscribed the distances of the great cities of Italy, and of the 
empire. At this column the roads commenced, and thence they branched off in 
straight lines from Rome to every part of Italy. They were paved, or rather flagged, 
generally with large blocks of stone. These roads, in process of time, were extended 
to the most distant provinces of the empire. 

The Roman forums, or squares, are represented by ancient writers as alone to have 
been sufficient to eclipse the splendor of every other city. These were of two kinds, 
one for the public markets and the other for the transaction of public business. The 
former were twelve in number, and the latter five. Of the latter, the Forum Roma- 
num was the most eminent. Its name was coeval with that of the city, and its des- 
tination was connected with all the glories of the republic. It was in fact the seat, 
or rather the throne, of Roman power, and was encircled with buildings of the 
greatest magnificence. The Forum Trajani consisted of four porticoes, supported 
by columns of the most beautiful marble ; the roof rested on brazen beams, and was 
covered wirh brazen plates. It was adorned with statues and chariots, all of gilt 
brass, and the pavement was of variegated marble. The entrance was at one end 
by a triumphal arch, and at the other and opposite end was a temple. On one side 
was a palace, and on the other a public library. In the centre rose the celebrated 
column, crowned with the colossal statue of Trajan, 

From the forums we pass to the porticoes. These, which were very numerous, 
are frequently alluded to by the Roman writers. They were erected for the conve- 
nience of the public in sultry or inclement weather, and were supported by columns, 
and, in many instances, decorated with paintings and statues. There were in Rome 
sixteen public baths, usually called Thermae, supplied with hot and cold Avater, and 
open at all hours of the day. Though they differed, both in magnitude and splendor, 
yet these edifices had some features in common. They contained spacious halls for 
bathing and SAvimming, for reading and declamation, for conversation and exercise. 
These halls were all lined and paved Avith marble, and adorned Avith the most valu- 
able statues and paintings. They Avere surrounded Avith plantations and walks, and 
combined eA^ery species of polite and manly amusement. The principal baths were 
those of Diociesian, Caracalla, and Titus. 

Next to these edifices, the following were the most remarkable : the temple of 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 289 

jEsculapius, in the island of the Tiber, which was consecrated to that god, now the 
church of St. Bartholomew ; the temple of Antoninus and Faustina, in the Via Sacra, 
now the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda; the magnificent temple of Apollo, which 
Augustus built of white marble, on the Palatine, in which were preserved the Sybil- 
line books (it contained, besides many other curiosities, a splendid library, and served 
as a place of resort to the poets, who here recited their works) ; the temple of the 
Caesars (Templum Csesarum), which contained the statues of the Csesars, the heads 
of all which were struck off at once by lightning ; the temple of the Dioscuri, in the 
Forum Romanum, under the Palatine hill, opposite the church of Santa Maria 
Liberatrice, built in honor of the two youths, who, in the battle of the lake Regillus, 
assisted the Romans in gaining the victory, and were supposed to be Castor and 
Pollux ; the temple of the goddess Seia, under the Palatine, built by Servius Tullius, 
which Nero enclosed in his golden palace, and caused to be covered with transparent 
Cappadocian marble ; the temple of the confederacy, under the name of Templum 
Dianse commune, which the Latin cities built in union, by the persuasion of Servius 
Tullius, and upon a monument in which were inscribed the arliclesof the confedera- 
tion ; the temple of Janus, upon the island of the Tiber, near the modern Sistine 
bridge, one of the most beautiful of ancient Rome ; the temple of the Flavian family, 
in which Domitian was buried, still standing on the Piazza Grimana ;' the region by 
Fulvius Nobilior, who placed here the images of the Muses, brought by him from 
Ambracia ; the temple of Honor and Virtue, in the first region, built by Marcus Mar- 
cellus, and ornamented by the Marcelli with the monuments of their family ; the 
temple of Jupiter Stator, on the declivity of the Palatine hill, vowed by Romulus on 
an occasion when his soldiers began to flee ; the temple of Jupiter Tonans, built by 
Augustus with much splendor on the slope of the Capitoline hill ; the beautiful tem- 
ple of the Lycaonian hill, on the island of the Tiber, which thence received the name 
of Lycaonia ; two temples of Isis and of Serapis ; the temple of Juno Moneta, built 
upon the spot where the house of Manlius was torn down, on the fortifications of the 
Capitoline hill, because the awakening of the garrison on the attack of the Gauls was 
attributed to this goddess; the temple of Liberty, built by Gracchus in the thirteenth 
region, and restored by Asinius Pollio, who there established the first public library ; 
the temple of Mars, on the east side of the Appian Way, before the Porta Capena, 
in the first region, in which the senate gave audience to generals who claimed the 
honor of a triumph, and likewise to foreign ambassadors (the church delle Palme 
stands upon its ruins) ; the temple of Mars Ultor, built by Augustus with great 
splendor, when he recovered the eagles of the legions ihat had been conquered by 
the Parthians ; the splendid temple of Minerva, which Domitian built in the forum 
of Nerva ; another temple of the same goddess, Avhich Pompey built in the Campus 
Martins, and which Augustus covered with bronze ; the temple of Peace, once the 
richest and most beautiful temple in Rome, built by Vespasian, in the Via Sacra, in 
the fourth region, which contained the treasures of the temple of Jerusalem, a 
splendid library, and other curiosities, but was burnt under the reign of Commodus; 
the temple of the goddess Salus, which was painted by Fabius Pictor, the first Roman 
painter ; the temple of Saturn, built by Tarquin the younger, which was afterward 
used for the treasury and the archives of Rome ; the temple of the Sun, which Aurelian 
erected at an enormous expense, and of which some ruins still exist. There were 
several temples of Venus, and among them, particularly, the magnificent temple of 
Venus Genitrix, which Csesar caused to be built to her as the origin of his family,, 
and the temple of Venus and Roma, of which Adrian himself designed the model ;■ 
the temple of Vesta, one of the oldest and most remarkable, built by Numa on the 
southern summit of the Palatine : in it were contained the ancilia, or sacred shields, 
and the palladium, sacred fire, &c. 

Of the palaces, the imperial was the most distinguished. It was built by Augustus 
upon the Palatine hill, and gave the name to the tenth region of the city. The front 
was on the Via Sacra, and before it were planted oaks. Within the palac€ lay the 
temple of Vesta, and also that of Apollo, which Augustus endeavored to make the 
chief temple in Rome. The succeeding emperors extended and beautified this 
palace. Nero burnt it, but rebuilt it, of such extent that it not only embraced all the 
Palatine hill, but also the plain between that and the Ccelian and Esquiline, and even 
a part of these hills, in its limits. He ornamented it so richly with precious stones, 
gold, silver, statues, paintings, and treasures of every description, that it justly re- 
ceived the name of Domus Aurea (Golden House). The following emperors not. 

19 



php* 



290 , SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

only stripped it of its ornaments, but Vespasian and Titus caused some parts of it lo 
be pulled down. Domitian afterward restored the main building. In the reign of 
Commodus a great part of it was burnt, but it was restored by him and his successors. 
In the time of Theodoric it needed still further repairs ; but this huge edifice subse- 
quently became a ruin, and on its site now stand the Farnese palace and gardens, 
and the Villa Spada. Among the theatres, those of Pompey, Cornelius Balbus, and 
Marcellus, were the most celebrated. Pompey built that which bore his name, 
after his return from Greece, and adorned it with the most beautiful Grecian statues. 
An aqueduct brought water into every part of it. In order to protect it from de- 
struction, he built within its precincts a splendid temple to Venus Victrix. It was 
capable of containing 40,000 persons. Caligula first finished it, but Tiberius had 
previously restored the scenes ; Claudius, still later, did the same thing, and the 
Gothic king Theodoric caused it to be repaired. A few remains of it are yet to be 
distinguished near the palace Ursini. The theatre of Balbus, the favorite of Augus- 
tus, was situated in the Campus Martius. The theatre of Marcellus was built by 
Augustus in memory of his nephew Marcellus ; it accommodated 22,000 spectators, 
and was repaired by Vespasian. Some beautiful ruins of it are still to be seen. 
Among the remaining circuses the following deserve to be mentioned : the circus 
Agonalis, in the ninth region; the circus Aurelius, in the gardens of Heliogabalus, in 
the fifth ; the circus Flaminius, in the ninth, one of the largest and most remarkable, 
upon the ruins of which the church of St. Caterina de' Funari and the palace MafTei 
now stand ; the circus of Flora in the sixth region, upon the same spot which the 
Piazza Grimana now occupies, where the licentious Floralia were celebrated ; 
lastly, the circus of Nero, in the fourteenth region, near the modern church of St. 
Peter ; and the circus of Sallust, the ruins of which are still visible near the Colline 
gate. 

Without stopping to describe the Naumachise, we will proceed to the porticoes or 
colonnades. Among these are the Porlicus Argonauiarum, also called Porticus 
Neptuni, Agrippas, or Vipsanii, which Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa built in 729, and 
adorned with paintings, representing the history of the Argonauts : it was situated 
in the Campus Martius, surrounded by a laurel grove, and the marble pillars, still 
visible in the Piazza di Pietr'a, probably belonged to it ; the splendid portico of Europa, 
in the Campus Martius, supposed to have been built by Augustus, and containing the 
history of Europa ; the Porticus Hecatonstylon, in the ninth, region, so called from its 
one hundred pillars ; the portico of Livia, in the third region, built by Augustus, and 
demolished by Nero ; the portico of Metellus, founded by Metellus Macedonicus, 
between the temple of Apollo, built by him ; and that of Juno, in the ninth region, 
and ornamented with statues, brought by him from Macedonia; the Porticus Mil- 
liarensis, or of the thousand columns, the ruins of which are yet to be seen in the 
gardens of the duke of Muti ; the portico of Octavia, built by Augustus ; and the 
portico of Pola, built by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa ; the portico of Pompey, called 
the Corinthian, from its pillars being of that order of architecture ; Pompey built it 
near his theatre, and ornamented it with golden tapestry ; finally, the portico of the 
sun (Porticus Solis), which was built by Aurelian. Among the basilicse, one of the 
most beautiful was the ^milian, on the northerly side of the Forum Romanum, built 
by Paulus ^milius. We will also mention the Basilica Caii, or.Lucii, on the 
Esquiline hill, the splendid Basilica Julia, on the southern side of the Forum Ro- 
manum, built by Julius Cajsar, and the Basilica Portia, which was the oldest, and 
was built by Cato the Censor. 

Of the public baths, some of which equalled in extent large palaces, and were 
tsmamented with still greater splendor, there have been enumerated about twenty- 
two warm, and eight hundred and fifty-six cold, besides eight hundred and eighty 
private baths. Maecenas and Agrippa founded the first public baths, which were 
afterward surpassed by those of Caracalla, and these, in their turn, by those of 
Diocletian, vestiges of which remain till this day. Rome was likewise rich in 
magnificent gardens. 

The gardens of Lucullus, in the ninth region, held the first rank ; after these, the 
gardens of Asinius PoUio, Julius Csesar, Maecenas, Heliogabalus, &c. Of the tri- 
umphal arches, the most celebrated were, that of Constantine, the ruins of which are 
yet seen ; that of Drusus, in the Appian Way, of which the modern gate of St. 
Sebastian is said to have been built ; that of Gallienus, and those of Severus and 
Titus, which are yet in good preservation ; the former in the Forum, and the latter 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 291 

in the Vicus Sandalarius. Among the columns, the most beautiful was Trajan's 
pillar, one hundred and twenty-four feet in height, still standing. Instead of the statue 
of that emperor, which it formerly bore, Sixtus V. placed upon it a statue of St. 
Peter, in bronze, twenty-three feet in height. The bas-reliefs, with which it is orna- 
mented, represent the exploits of Trajan, and contain about two thousand and five 
hundred half and whole human figures. A flight of stairs, within the pillar, leads to 
its summit. The columna rostrata, which Duillius erected in commemoration of his 
victory over the Carthaginian fleet, and the pillars of Antoninus and Aurelian, are 
still standing. Among the magnificent sepulchral monuments, the mausoleum of 
Augustus and theSeptizonium of Septimius Severus surpassed all others in splendor. 
This city was also rich in splendid private buildings, and in the treasures of art, with 
which not only the public places and streets, but likewise the residences and gardens 
of the principal citizens, Avere ornamented, and of which but comparatively few 
vestiges have survived the ravages of time. 

Having thus enumerated the principal objects which contributed so much to the 
splendor of ancient Rome, we shall now devote some space to the ruins which now 
exist, and which still render Rome so interesting to the votaries of talent and art. 

Among the monuments of antiquity still remaining in Rome, one of the most 
famous and most interesting is the beautiful column of Trajan. According to the 
inscription which is still to be read on its base, it was erected by the senate and peo- 
ple of Rome in honor of the victories obtained by the emperor Trajan, in his two 
expeditions against the Dacians, in the first of which he compelled that fierce people 
to sue for peace, and in the second, entirely conquered their country, and added it to 
the dominions of Rome. The former was undertaken in the year 101, and lasted for 
three years ; on the latter he set out in 105, and returned the year following, the war 
having been thus speedily terminated by the Dacian king, Decebalus, putting him- 
self to death to avoid the risk of what he deemed a worse fate. The column was 
erected in the year 115, after Trajan had gone on his last expedition, that against the 
Parthians and Armenians. From this he never returned, having been cut off by a 
dysenteric fever, at Seleucia, in 117. He never, therefore, beheld the magnificent 
structure which had been raised to record his glory. 

The pillar of Trajan originally stood in the midst of a large square or forum, as it 
was called, the buildings surrounding which, comprehended a palace, a gymnasium, 
a library, several triumphal arches, porticoes, and other erections, in the most superb 
style of architecture. Gilded statues and military ensigns glittered on the fronts of 
the buildings; and besides the column, an equestrian statue of the emperor appears 
to have occupied a conspicuous position in the open space within. For richness of 
display, there was probably nothing in Rome comparable to this forum. Cassidorus, 
a writer who flourished in the beginning of the sixth century, while the buildings, as 
may be gathered from his account, were still standing, says of it : " The forum of 
Trajan is a perfect miracle, if we inspect it even with the utmost minuteness." 

All the buildings of the forum of Trajan are now thrown down, with the excep- 
tion of the pillar. Their ruins have raised the present streets fifteen feet above the 
ancient pavement. A few years ago, however, the accumulated soil and rubbish 
were removed immediately around the column, which is now, therefore, to be seen 
standing in the excavation, in its full dimensions. It is built of white marble, which 
was probably also the material of the surrounding buildings, as it certainly was of 
their pavements, which have been, in part, uncovered. It consists of a base, a shaft 
of the Doric order, and a capital ; and it was anciently surmounted by a statue of 
the emperor, in place of which one of the apostle Peter has been substituted. The 
ashes of Trajan are said to have been contained in a golden bull, which rested on 
the head of the figure, and which is believed to be the same that is still to be seen 
ornamenting the great staircase of the capitol. Including the statue, the height of 
the whole is stated by ancient writers to have been one hundred and forty feet. The 
height of the pillar alone is one hundred and twenty-eight modern Roman, or one 
hundred and twenty-four English, feet. 

The whole consists of only thirty-three blocks of marble, of which eight compose 
the base, twenty-three the shaft, one the capital, and another the pedestal supporting 
the statue. It is ascended by a spiral staircase in the interior, which is entirely cut 
out of the same stones. There are forty-three loopholes or apertures for the admis- 
sion of the light. 

But the most curious part of the column is the sculptures in bas-relief, by which 



292 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



the whole of the shaft is covered. The series of delineations runs round the pillar 
in an ascending spiral riband, which makes, in all, twenly-two revolutions before 
reaching the top. On this is represented, in chiselling of exquisite delicacy, the suc- 
cession of Trajan's Dacian victories, together with the two triumphal processions by 
which they were celebrated. The figures, which are designed with great spirit, are 
not fewer than between two and three thousand in number, that of Trajan occurring 
about fifty times. In the lower part of the shaft they are each about two feet in 
height; but as they ascend and are removed farther from the eye, their dimensions 
are enlarged, till at the top they become nearly double the size of those below. 




B as- Reliefs on the Column of Trajan, at Rome. 

These sculptures are extremely interesting in another point of view, as well as for 
their merit as works of art. " The Roman dress and manners," says Mr. Burton, in 
his " Description of the Antiquities of Rome," " may receive considerable light from 
these bas-reliefs. We find the soldiers constantly carrying their swords on the right 
side. On a march they are generally bareheaded ; some have no helmet at all ; 
others wear them suspended to their right shoulder. Some of them have lions' 
heads by way of a cap, with the mane hanging down behind. Each of them car- 
ries a stick over the left shoulder, which seems to have been for the purpose of con- 
veying their provisions. We may observe a wallet, a vessel for wine, a machine for 
dressing meat, &c. We know from other accounts that they sometimes carried sixty- 
pounds, and food for seventeen days ; they never carried less than enough for three 
days. Their shields are oblong, with different devices upon them. The standards 
are of various kinds ; such as a hand within a wreath of laurel, which was consid- 
ered a sign of concord. Pictures also were used, which were portraits of gods or 
heroes. The soldiers wear upon their legs a kind of tight pantaloon, reaching a 
little below the knee, and not buttoned. The Dacians have loose pantaloons, reach- 
ing to the ankle and shoes; they also carry curved swords. The Sarmatian cavalry, 
allies of Decebalus, wear plate-armor, covering the men and horses. These were 
called Cataphracti or Clibanarii ; and the words of Ammianus exactly answer the 
representation on the column : ' Their armor was a covering of thin circular plates, 
which were adapted to the movements of the body, and drawn over all their limbs ; 
so that in whatever direction they wished to move, their clothing allowed them free 
play, by the close fitting of its joints.' Some Roman soldiers have also plate-armor, 
but they are archers. The horses have saddles, or rather cloths, which are fastened 
by cords round the breast and under the tail. The Dacian horses are without this 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



293 




294 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

covering ; and the Germans, or some other allies, have neither saddles nor bridles to 
their horses. We might observe several other particulars, such as a bridge of boats 
over a river, and that the boats everywhere are without a rudder, but are guided by 
an oar fastened with a thong on one side of the stern. The wall of the camp has 
battlements, and the heads of the Dacians are stuck upon it. The Dacian women 
are represented burning the Roman prisoners." 

Our engraving is principally copied from a plate in the splendid work on the 
" Architecural Antiquities of Rome." It represents the column, vi^ith the surround- 
ing ground and buildings, as the whole appeared soon after the late excavations. In 
the foreground is seen a portion of the pavement of the basilica, or palace, which 
formed one of the most sumptuous buildings of the forum ; and the pillars which 
are ranged around are some of those that belonged to the same edifice. " The 
church to the left," says the description appended to this print, " is dedicated to the 
Madonna di Loretto ; it was erected by Bramante, and its cupola is one of the ear- 
liest specimens of that modern appendage to a church, and is supposed to have been 
the prototype of the admirable dome of St. Peter's." 

The magnificence of the column corresponded with that of the Forum, constructed 
by ApoUodorus of Damascus. It was surrounded with porticoes of columns, sup- 
porting statues and bronze ornaments ; with a basilica, a temple, and the celebrated 
Ulpian library. It was found in the last excavations, that the column was placed in 
the centre of a small oblong court, sevenly-six feet in length and fifty-six in width, 
paved with marble, having to the south the wall of the basilica, and on the other 
three sides a portico, composed of a double row of columns. The library was divi- 
ded into two parts, one for Greek, the other for Latin works, which were afterward 
removed by Diocletian to his thermae. Remains of it have been found behind the 
two small porticoes near the column. The basilica followed the direction from east 
to west, having its principal entrance to the south ; the interior was divided by four 
rows of columns into five naves; the pavement was composed of giallo antico and 
violet marble ; the walls were covered with white marble, the roof with gilt bronze, 
and the five entrance steps were large blocks of giallo antico. Fragments of the 
steps, the pavement, and the granite columns belonging to the interior perystile, are 
still visible. Toward the column, the basilica was closed by a wall ; it had three 
entrances, each decorated with a portico of four columns, supporting an attic ; on 
the terrace above were a triumphal car and statues ; a triumphal arch led to the 
great square situated to the south, and surrounded with sumptuous porticoes. It is 
probable that a similar space existed at the opposite extremity, behind the temple, 
so that what remains at present may be estimated at about one third of the surface 
of the forum, of which the whole length was two thousand, and the breadth six 
hundred and fifty feet. 

Among the equestrian statues raised on this spot, was that of Trajan, in gilt 
bronze, placed before the temple which particularly attracted the attention of the 
emperor Constantius, when he visited Rome, in the year 354. 

The injuries of time and the depredations of man, ruined all these magnificent 
edifices v^rhich were still entire in the year 600, even after the ravages of the Goths 
and Vandals. The fragments and inscriptions found in the last excavations are 
affixed to the walls. 

Another vestige of ancient Rome is the Forum. This scene, though now so deso- 
late and degraded, was once the great centre of all the business, power, and splen- 
dor of Rome. Here, as long as the Romans were a free people, all the aflfairs of the 
state were debated in a most public manner, and from the rostra, elevated in the 
midst of the square, and with their eyes fixed on the capitol, which immediately faced 
them, and which was suited to fill their minds with patriotism, while the Tarpeian 
rock reminded them of the fate reserved for treason or corruption, the noblest of ora- 
tors "wielded at will the fierce democracy," or filled the souls of gathered thousands 
with one object, one wish, one passion — the freedom and glory of the RomSn race — 
a freedom which would have been more enduring had the glory been less. 

" Yes, in yon field below, 
A thousand years of silenced factions sleep — 
The Forum, where the immortal accents glow, 
And still the eloquent air breathes, burns with Cicero !" 

" The field of freedom, faction, fame, and blood : 
Here a proud people's passions were exhaled, 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 295 

From the first hour of empire in the bud, 
To that when further worlds to conquer failed ; 
But long before had Freedom's face been veiled, 
And Anarchy assumed her attributes ; 
Till every lawless soldier ■who assailed 
Trod on the trembling senate's slavish mutes, 
Or raised the venal voice of baser prostitutes." 

Here the orators of the people brought their accusations against public men, or 
pronounced the eulogies of such as had died for their country ; and here also were 
exhibited the bleeding heads or lifeless bodies of traitors, or, as it but too often hap- 
pened, of men unjustly deemed so by an overbearing faction. 

The Forum was the court of justice, and in the homely days of the early republic 
civil and criminal causes were tried and decided by simple laws, in the open air, or 
in very plain sheds built in this square. The humble schools for the republican chil- 
dren (for these old Romans had places of public instruction for even the poor people) 
stood round the Forum, and seem to have been intermixed with shops, shambles, 
stalls, lowly temples, and altars. It was as she used to cross the Forum, day by day, 
in her way to and from school, that the innocent young Virginia, a maiden of plebeian 
rank, but extraordinary beauty, unhappily attracted the notice of the lustful and 
tyrannical decemvir, Appius Claudius, who sat there on the tribunal, surrounded by 
lictors, to administer the laws which he himself outraged. It was here, as she was 
on her way to school, that Appius had her seized. Livy says : " As Virginia came 
into the Forum (for the schools of learning were held there in sheds), a dependant 
and minister of the decemvir's lust laid his hands on her, and affirming that ' she 
was a slave, and born of a woman who was his slave,' ordered her to follow him, 
threatening, in case of refusal, to drag her away by force." 

This fearful tragedy, with a sort of dramatic unity, was ended where it began. 
When the honest centurion Virginius, informed of the disgrace hanging over the 
head of his daughter, quitted the army with which he was fighting for his country, 
and came to Rome, he appeared in the Forum to plead for his child ; and when he 
and Icilius, a young man to whom Virginia was betrothed, had both pleaded in vain, 
it was here he slew her. According to Livy : — 

" Virginius, seeing no prospect of assistance from any quarter, said : ' Appius, I 
entreat you first to make allowance for a father's grief, if I have made use of loo 
harsh expressions toward you ; and next, allow me here, in the presence of the 
maiden, to inquire of her nurse the truth of this affair, that if I have been falsely 
called her father, I may depart hence with the more resignation.' Permission being 
granted, he drew the maiden and nurse aside to the sheds, near the temple of Cloa- 
cina, then called the new sheds, and there, snatching a knife from a butcher, plunged 
it into his daughter's breast, with these words: 'In this manner, sweet child — the 
only one in my power — do I secure your liberty !' And then, looking back on Ap- 
pius: 'With this blood, Appius,' said he, 'I devote thee and thine head to per- 
dition !' " 

This fearful scene led to a general rising of the commons and people of Rome 
against the nobles. The tyrannical offices of the decemvirs were abolished ; the 
power of the aristocracy, which had been great out of all proportion, was abridged, 
and a check put upon their cruelty, arrogance, and insolence. In vain did Caius 
Claudius, a most noble and virtuous Roman, and the uncle of Appius, appear in the 
Forum, dressed in deep mourning, and surrounded by his relatives and dependants, 
to supplicate that the Claudian family, which had rendered many services to the 
state, might not be degraded by chains and imprisonment, and to implore pardon or 
protection of every individual citizen he met with in behalf of his nephcAV. The fate 
of the criminal Appius was sealed by men of unbending minds, and, to escape a pub- 
lic execution, he put an end to his own life in prison. His example was followed 
by Spurius Oppius, the most unpopular of his colleagues, and the rest of the decem- 
virs went into exile, leaving their estates to be confiscated. Marcus Claudius, the 
vile pander who had claimed the fair Roman as his slave, was condemned to die; 
but this sentence was mitigated, and he also went into a dishonored, wretched exile 
at Tibur (now Tivoli). "And thus the shade of Virginia, whose cause was best 
supported after her death, having roamed through so many families in quest of ven- 
geance, rested in peace, none of the guilty being left unpunished." 

We have alluded to these incidents as they throw light on the plain, homely state 



296 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

of the Forum in the earlier ages of the Roman republic, when stately edifices and 
the pomps and beauties of architecture and sculpture were unknown. To narrate 
all the great events of which this spacious area was the scene, would be in a man- 
ner to write the history of Rome. Virgil, in speaking of this site in the days of 
Evander, who is supposed to have flourished some centuries before Romulus, says 
that then the flocks of sheep used to wander, and cows low, on the Roman forum. 
If this were the case, it could only have been in certain seasons, for, placed low, be- 
tween hills, it received the rain and other waters from the higher grounds and the 
ravines or gulleys that cut the hills, and must have been a complete SM'amp during 
a good part of the year. Indeed, as Sir William Gell shows in his recent learned 
and laborious work on the " Topography of Rome and its Neighborhood," the spot 
which afterward became the Forum, as well as all the low ground on the side of the 
Circus Maximus, or Colosseum, was a marsh in the" time of Romulus, and these two 
marshes served as a military defence to the Palatine, on which single hill then stood 
the whole of the city. If these bogs added to the strength of infant Rome, they 
must also have made the place a very unhealthy residence. As the city expanded, 
and enclosed other hills, and more and more room was required, the Forum was ar- 
tificially drained. Sir William Gell says : " The Forum must always have remained 
a marsh, had not a subterranean channel been constructed, which carried off the 
stagnant waters by the Cloaca Maxima to the Tiber." These cloaca, or sewers, 
which were works of magnitude and utility, as may still be seen by the almost per- 
fect remains of them, were built under the first Tarquinian king by a number of 
Etrurians whom he brought to Rome for the purpose. The increase of cleanliness 
and salubrity they gave rise to must have been prodigious, and they continued to be 
serviceable for many centuries. In the time of the kingdom and republic, regular 
officers were appointed to the charge of them; under the emperors, contractors en- 
gaged to keep them in order for a fixed annual sum. Of all the capital cities of 
Europe, though neither of them reached perfection in this essential, ancient Rome 
and modern London are probably those which have paid most attention to drainage, 
and made the costliest works for that most essential object. 

The same king, who is commonly called Tarquinius Priscus, was the first to as- 
sign lots of ground to the Roman people round the Forum, where sheds, lowly porti- 
coes, and shops, were soon erected. This was about five centuries and a half before 
Christ. As the conquests of the Romans extended, and the population of the city 
increased, the Forum became more and more thronged under the republic ; but one 
hundred or more years after Tarquinius, when the tragedy of Virginia took place, 
the square was still in a very primitive condition, as we have shown ; and the Forum 
does not appear to have gained much more a century after the latter event, or about 
360 years before the Christian era, when a lake or chasm, called Lacus Curlius, sud- 
denly opened in the midst of it, and would not close again (so goes the legend) until 
the most precious object the city contained was thrown into it to pacify the angry 
gods. The story of the gallant, self-devoted Roman knight — the young and beautiful 
Marcus Curlius — who, after casting his eyes to the temples of the gods within view 
of the Forum, and to the sacred walls of the Capitol, galloped his horse into the 
chasm, and perished there for his country's good, was too marvellous even for the 
large faith of old Livy ; and yet it conveys so noble an example of patriotism that 
we are sorry we can not believe it. Perhaps, however, it was an embellished and 
poetized relation of some real event, in which the heroism or disinterestedness of a 
Roman knight conferred a great and lasting benefit on his countrymen. An earth- 
quake, or a tremendous rush of water, may have made a rent that would require an 
immense outlay to fill it up, and this outlay may have been made, to his own ruin, 
by one noble citizen. Or, if we suppose that some such calamity had in part thrown 
open, and in part blocked up, the Cloaca Maxima, which runs under the middle of 
the Forum, and that Curtius had it repaired at his own expense, although, to be able 
to do so, he was obliged to sacrifice even his horse, his best armor and gorgeous 
accoutrements, and utterly ruin his fortunes, and perhaps die while superintending 
the work, the narrative becomes less grandiose and romantic, but still conveys a glo- 
rious deed, while it gains infinitely on the side of credibility, as few people now-a- 
days will lend any belief to the responses of augurs and soothsayers, or to any part 
of the story as literally told by the old Roman chroniclers. In this natural way, even 
the labors of Hercules, and the exploits of Theseus, may be traced down to some real 
and natural deeds, which, as they had greatly benefited mankind, were in the first 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 




298 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

instance magnified by gratitude in oral tradition, then made supernatural by priests, 
and finally etherealized by annalists and poets. 

During the republic, in the absence of those vast and splendid theatres and amphi- 
theatres where the emperors afterward amused that people whom they enslaved, 
the players and gladiators exhibited in the Forum. In the latter years of the com- 
monwealth a great number of temples, military columns, and rostra, dotted the 
space ; but these, for the most part, gave way to more splendid edifices and objects, 
which were erected during the empire, when the soul of liberty that had animated 
the place, and the virtues which could cast a charm on lowly walls, had for ever 
taken their departure. We do not eulogize the factious spirit, the love of war and 
conquest, which were the immediate causes of their ruin ; but we need scarcely re- 
mind any of our readers that the old Roman republicans had many private and pub- 
lic virtues, that they were sober, honest, chaste, and hospitable, and that they loved 
their country with an unbounded passion. All these disappeared under an execrable 
despotism ; and the Romans experienced what all nations will feel, that, in forging 
chains for others, they make rivets for their own necks ; that those who enslave to- 
day are on the road to be enslaved to-morrow ; that the spoifs of unjust aggression, 
and the gains wrung from a vanquished, but once free people, are like clothes stolen 
from the back of a man Avho has died<ef the plague, which carry a curse and death 
to the fool who puts them on. The wooden sheds where Virginia repaired to school, 
and where her father seized the butcher's knife, were succeeded by marble porticoes 
and colonnades ; and it is even said, that by night the Forum was illuminated all 
round by lamps. On one occasion, Julius Csesar nearly covered it all over with tents 
or awnings, for the purpose ol' commodiously celebrating certain games; and Octa- 
via, the sister of the emperor Augustus, furnished it with an immense quantity of 
Valeria, or canvass awnings, to shade the portions of it where causes were tried. In 
the immediate neighborhood of the Forum, on the Palatine hill, which stands at one 
end of it, Augustus himself built a library, wherein he placed a large collection of 
law-books, as well as the works of all the famous Roman authors. Pliny gives an 
almost incredible notion of the number of statues and busts of gods, heroes, and em- 
perors, which a few years later were arranged in the midst or around the Forum 
Romanuin. Here the adjective sounds like an absurdity or a reproach. 

It was at this period, when the Romans had no deliberative voice, and not, as Mr. 
Eustace incorrectly says, "when the Roman people assembled to exercise their sov- 
ereign power, and to decide the fate of heroes, kings, and nations," that the Forum 
offered one of the richest artificial exhibitions that eye could behold. It terminated 
in triumphal arches : and here the eye rested on the glorious terraces of the capitol — 
there on the imperial palace, stoas, and temples, on the Palatine mount. It was no 
longer the centre of liberty and political affairs, but it was still the centre of justice 
(if we can apply that holy name) to an immense empire ; and it was the great mar- 
ket-place, and a centre of general trade besides. As the value of houses and small 
pieces of land increased in the vicinity of Cheapside, St. James's, and Regent street, 
London, so, and from the same causes of central and relative situation, did the prices 
rise in and near the Forum. A warehouse, a shop there, was worth more than one 
in any other part of Rome. There is an illustrative and amusing passage in one of 
Juvenal's satires, where he speaks of the value of ground near the Forum, and of 
houses built on it ; and in another satire by the same Roman poet, who was contem- 
porary with what he describes, he says that " quinque tabernse" (five shops or ware- 
houses) on the Forum were equal to a noble's estate. 

The list of all the edifices in the Forum would be tedious, nor could even learned 
antiquaries novf make it correct ; but among them we may mention the temple of the 
Penates, or household god«, the temple of Concord, the temple of Jupiter Stator, the 
temple of Castor and Pollux, the temple of Vesta, the temple of Victory, the temple 
of Julius Cesar, and the arches of Fabian, Tiberius, anJ Severus. All these, howev- 
er, and in most cases even the traces of them, have disappeared, the few objects re- 
maining being a puzzle to such persons as take an interest in them, and examine the 
matters on the spot. For example, the three magnificent columns represented in our 
engraving have been differently assigned to the temple of Jupiter Stator,* to a senate- 
house, to a portico, to a comitium or public hall, and to a bridge. If we could haz- 
ard ourselves on a field where more learned men have met, and almost fought, on 

" Stator, one who stands firm : from the verb stare, to stand still, not to move back or flinch. The 
Komans gave this surname to Jupiter, because he stopped their flight in a battle against the Sabines. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 299 

the subject, we should be inclined to say that the columns are the remains of the 
Jupiter Stator, the temple of the unreceding and immoveable Roman Jove ! 

A few sad words will describe the present state of the Roman Forum : — 

It is reduced, not indeed to the pasture-ground for cattle which Virgil described, 
but to the market-place for pigs, sheep, and oxen, being now the Smithfield of Rome. 
The hills, the river, the roads and bridges, in this mother of cities, mostly go by 
their ancient Latin names, slightly altered in Italian, but the Forum has not even 
retained its name : it is now called the Campo Vaccino, or the Field of Cows ! 

Close by the stalely ancient columns is a solitary Christian church, called Santa 
Maria Liberatrice, and at a few yards' distance, in the middle of the Forum, there is 
an old Roman fountain, with a large granite basin, dingy from time and dirt. A 
few fragments of columns, capitals, and architraves, lie scattered about, and here and 
there low jagged lines of old Roman walls show themselves above the rough surface 
of the Forum. If, however, you cross the " field of freedom, faction, fame, and 
blood," you presently reach ground that it is almost covered with stupendous ruins, 
such as the palace of the Csesars, the Colosseum, and the arch of Titus on the Via 
Sacra. 

There were several other Fora in Rome besides the Romanum. Julius Caesar 
made one, Augustus another, and Trajan added a third, which we have described ; 
but there is another Forum in the neighborhood of Rome, the Forum Populi, which 
is frequently mentioned in the history of the republic, and which interests us as being 
the popular and commercial resort of a free people. At stated periods the Romans 
and their friends or allies used to meet at that spot, and celebrate the Latinse Feriee, 
on which merry holydays religious ceremonies were accompanied by renewals of 
treaties of amity, by the interchange of commodities, and by manly sports and pas- 
times. While "the Roman citizens came from the Tiber, ihe free confederates de- 
scended from their mountains, or wended their way from the fertile plains beyond 
the river Liris. Sir William Gell thinks he can fix this interesting spot: — 

" The habitations round the temple of Jupiter Latialis, on the summit of Mont 
Albano, are supposed to have constituted the village called Forum Populi. It is 
probable that the meeting of the Latin confederates upon the mountain, and the fair 
held there, led to its erection. Plere the consuls had a house, where they sometimes 
lodged, which Dio Cassius (lib. liii.) says was struck by lightning." 

Generally speaking, the market-place of every considerable town was called by 
the Romans the Forum. 

The Piazza del Popolo. — In Rome, where most of the streets are narrow and 
crooked, the number and size of the open squares produce a most agreeable effect. 
These squares are generally adorned with ancient Egyptian obelisks, or splendid 
fountains, and in some cases wiih both. Several of the finest of modern churches 
and palaces are situated on these free spaces, while others contain ancient temples, 
columns, and majestic ruins. Indeed, there is scarcely one of the Roman piazze but 
offers some beautiful or otherwise interesting object, either ancient or modern, to the 
admiration of the spectator. 

The Piazza del Popolo, or " Square of the People," represented in our engraving, 
is the first seen by the traveller arriving from the north ; and though far inferior in 
architectural and antique treasures to several others, it is well entitled to attention. 
Having the advantage of being the first seen by our countrymen, it is generally found 
to have made a deep and lasting impression on them. It may, indeed, be almost 
called the great entrance into Rome, and is the point whence the impatient eye is 
first delighted by a vast interior view of the eternal city. 

After driving over the ancient Campus Martius, through a long avenue of high 
walls, which prevent the stranger from seeing much of that scene of the military 
training and exercises of the old Romans, he reaches the Porta del Popolo, or " Gate 
of the People," which stands upon or near to the site of the celebrated Flaminian 
gate, which was the great northern entrance of old Rome. The modern gate, though 
in part the work of the great Michael Angelo, is rather defective and mean. The 
principal defect arose from the circumstance that four ancient columns, of insufficient 
size for the elevation required, were assigned to him for its decoration. The small- 
ness of these columns obliged him to raise the other members of the order beyond 
their due proportion, and the whole terminated in a deficiency of grandeur, "But 
this," says Forsyth, " will ever happen, where the design, instead of commanding, 
is made subject to the materials." After passing the Porta del Popolo, the stranger 



300 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

soon finds himself driving across a fine spacious square. An Egyptian obelisk stands 
up nobly in the centre; in a line from it, the great street called the Corso, a mile 
long from the square to the foot of the capitol, flanked on either side by a church, 
opens a direct road into the heart of the city; palaces and churches present them- 
selves on every side ; the " vast, the vFondrous" dome of St. Peter's is seen on the 
right, and on the left the steep acclivity of the Pincian Hill, in part cut into orna- 
mented terraces, rises from the Piazza del Popolo. 

The square itself has undergone many improvements of late years. The most 
conspicuous and interesting object in it is the obelisk, which is one of twelve of 
those extraordinary masses of granite cut by the Egyptians, brought to Rome by dif- 
ferent emperors from Augustus down to Constantine, overturned and buried in the 
barbarous ages, but recovered and set up for the embellishment of the modern city 
by diff'erent popes. The height of the ancient shaft of the obelisk in the Piazza del 
Popolo is about seventy-eight and a half feet, but unfortunately it is not entire — it 
has been broken in three pieces. Its whole height, with the modern base and sub- 
structure, is about one hundred and sixteen feet. Its sides are covered with hiero- 
glyphics that are partially injured or defaced. It was erected where it now stands 
in the year 1589, by order of Sixtus V., who was the first of the popes to give atten- 
tion to these magnificent relics of antiquity. Before erecting this one in the Piazza 
del Popolo, he had set three other obelisks upright on bases in diff'erent parts of 
Rome, viz., one in front of the church of St. Peter, in 1586 ; another in front of the 
church of Santa Maria Maggiore, in 1587 ; and the third in the square of San Gio- 
vanni Lateranense, in 1588. 

The author of " Rome in the Nineteenth Century," and several others who have 
written on the subject without a proper examination of the objects and their his- 
tory, have strangely confused the obelisk in the Piazza del Popolo sometimes with 
that in front of St. "Peter's, and sometimes with that erected by Augustus in the Cam- 
pus Marlins, and removed thence to Monte Citorio in 1792. The author of the book 
just mentioned has applied the description of the difficulties encountered in raising 
the obelisk in front of St. Peter's (a much larger shaft in one entire, unbroken piece, 
and the first that was raised) to the elevation of this smaller column, which, as we 
have mentioned, and as is distinctly stated by the architect employed in the work, 
was broken into three pieces, and consequently infinitely more easy to move and set 
up. As an account has been recently given of the facility with which a small party 
of Frenchmen removed an obelisk from Luxor to Paris, it may amuse our readers to 
«how them what a tremendous task — even when a host of men and horses were em- 
ployed — the raising of an obelisk at Rome was considered in the sixteenth century. 

The height of the ancient shaft of the obelisk which now stands in front of St. Pe- 
ter's is eighty-three feet two and four fifths inches.* When Sixtus V. decided upon 
erecting it, men stood aghast at the dangers and toils of raising so enormous a mass 
of heavy stone, and two or three years elapsed in preparation before the work could 
be performed. The papal court consulted men of science all over Europe, and nu- 
merous plans from architects, engineers, and mathematicians, were sent to Rome 
from all quarters. At last, the plan of Domenico Fontana, one of the successors of 
Michael Angelo in the works of Si. Peter's, was accepted and acted upon. 

The day on which the obelisk was to be raised was ushered in with great solem- 
nity. High mass was celebrated at St. Peter's, and the architect and workmen re- 
ceived the benediction of the pope, who implored Heaven to prosper them in their 
undertaking. At a given sign engines were set in motion by an incredible number 
of men and horses: but not until fifty-two unsuccessful eff'orts had been made did the 
mighty mass rise from earth and swing in air. The moment it was set upright, the 
thousands gathered to witness the spectacle shouted aloud, the cannons roared from 
the castle of St. Angelo, and the church-bells began to ring all over the city. 

According to an old local historian, the raising of this obelisk cost thirty-six thousand 
nine hundred and seventy-five Roman crowns ; and another old writer says the work 
" was terminated in the short space of one year, in 1586." The writer last alluded 
to describes the machinery and methods employed by Fontana, and also gives an en- 
graving. The engraving is scarcely intelligible, but we see in it a resemblance to 
the " large beams of wood planted upright, and looking like a forest of machinery," 
and " the long, thick ropes veiling the sky with a kind of close netting," mentioned 

* With its base, its modem ornaments at top, cross, &c., it measures one hundred and thirty-two 
feet. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



301 




302 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

by Ammianus Marcellinus in describing the erection of an obelisk at Rome in the 
time of Constantine, the son of Constantine the Great. The liistorian of Fontana's 
exploit says : " In raising the obelisk before St. Peter's there were forty argani (cap- 
stans), to each of which were put four horses, hearty and robust, and twenty men. 
So that thtre were one hundred and sixty horses, and eight hundred men, for the 
said argani alone ; besides many more men occupied by divers other offices, as stand- 
ing round about the machinery and working above it. And on the top of the huge 
machine, which looked like a castle, th^re was a trumpeter, and also a large bell. 
And the trumpeter, immediately on a sign being made to him by the capo maestro, 
or architect, blew his trumpet, and then all the capstans were worked g^ogether by 
the men and horses ; and when they were to stop, the bell was rung. In this man- 
ner the orders were understood, and all passed off well ; whereas, if the human voice 
had been employed to give the word of command, it would not have been possible to 
avoid disorder, for the noise was like that of thunder or an earthquake, so great were 
the creaking, groaning, and convulsion of all the machinery, by reason of so heavy a 
bulk as the obelisk." 

The same machinery, reduced in force and magnitude, we are informed, served 
Fontana for the setting up of the obelisk at Santa Maria Maggiore, of that at San 
Giovanni Lateranense, and of the one in the Piazza del Popolo ; and we are expressly 
told by the architect's biographers that, after his first great task with the obelisk in 
the front of St. Peter's, he found the erection of the other three comparatively easy 
work, for they were all broken, and the fragments were raised and adjusted one after 
the other. 

As it now stands with its parts united, the obelisk in the Piazza del Popolo is, in 
size, next to the obelisks before the churches of St. Peter and St. John Lateran, being 
higher than the other nine Roman obelisks now erect. The sides of the stone are 
of unequal width : those on the north and south, which correspond, are seven feet 
ten inches at the base, and four feet ten inches at the summit. The other two sides 
or faces of the obelisk, at the same positions respectively, are, at the base, six feet 
eleven inches, and at top four feet one inch. The northern face of this obelisk has 
been much injured by fire. Some local writers have settled to their satisfaction that 
this injury was sustained during Nero's burning of Rome. It may, or it may not 
have been so, for Rome has been the scene of many a conflagration since then. A 
much better established fact is, that the obelisk in the Piazza del Popolo is one of 
two that the Emperor Augustus caused to be transported from Egypt to Rome, and 
erected in the Great Circus. Pliny says it was first quarried by an Egyptian king, 
during whose reign the philosopher Pythagoras visited Egypt. This Avould give 
the shaft an antiquity of more than twenty-three centuries. Their age, the mysteri- 
ous country of their origin, the history of their importation into Europe by the con- 
querors of old Rome, their overthrow by the barbarous invaders of the empire, their 
re-erection by the popes of rnodern Rome, the innumerable vicissitudes and tragical 
changes that have occurred since they were first placed erect in the Circus Maximus, 
the Campus Martins, or similar spots of renown, all tend to give great interest to 
these obelisks, which are grand and imposing objects in themselves, and which, 
moreover, are seen in no other city in Europe. At Constantinople, indeed, there is 
one which produces but little effect in the large square of the Hippodrome, and in 
presence of the towering minarets of Sultan Achmet's mosque, and there will now 
be another erected at Paris ; but these solitary specimens are as nothing compared 
with the obelisk wealth of Rome. 

The Piazza del Popolo, which is now one of the busiest and most frequented parts 
of Rome, was a desolate waste in the middle ages. There is a curious legend told 
by all the old chroniclers and local historians, which, if it exposes the superstitions 
of the times, shows also (what it is better to commemorate) the enduring popular 
horror of cruelty and tyranny. According to this tale, on the spot where the church 
of Santa Maria now stands, there once stood a great chestnut-tree, " under which 
were hidden the infamous ashes of the emperor Nero, that were guarded by many 
malignant spirits, who with divers insults never ceased by night to molest the pas- 
sengers." — "Now, for these reasons, in the year of Grace 1099, the pope, Pascal IL, 
resolved that the said tree should be cast down, and the impious ashes of the wicked 
king be taken up and scattered to the wjfids." 

Accordingly, the papal court went in procession to the spot, where the pontiff him- 
self was the first^to strike the tree with an axe. The tree was then utterly destroyed 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 303 

and rooted up, and the ashes of the tyrant, or what were supposed to be such, were 
dispersed. A Christian altar was erected over the pagan's grave, and in process of 
time the altar grew into a church. 

The Piazza, or square of the Quirinal, now more commonly called the Piazza of 
Monte Cavallo, from the statues of the two horses (cavalli), is, taken altogether, not 
only one of the finest parts of Rome, but one of the most favorable points from which 
to see the rest of the city. This square is on the Quirinal mount, which is the high- 
est of the seven old hills ; it commands some of the finest views of the modern city, 
with the noblest of its palaces and churches, fountains and obelisks. From one part 
of the Quirinal hill the eye looks down upon the Campus Martius; in another direc- 
tion it takes in the grand column of the Emperor Trajan, and in an opposite point, 
it reposes upon the long galleries of the Vatican, and the massy walls and sublime 
dome of St. Peter's, and the shady sides of Monte Mario. La Strada Pia, one of the 
finest streets in Europe, gives access to the square, on one side of which there stands 
the Quirinal palace, a plain but imposing edifice, in which the pope generally resides 
in summer, on account of its elevated situation, and the coolness and purity of the 
air. The palace, like the square, is now more commonly called, of Monte Cavallo. 
In the rear of this palace are fine and spacious gardens, with shady groves and fresh 
fountains, and in front of it are most happily placed the statues represented in our 
view. These statues are of colossal size, and of such great beauty as to have been 
attributed, though without any historical authority, to Phidias and Praxiteles, the 
greatest sculptors of ancient Greece. They were brought to Rome from Alexan- 
dria, in Egypt, at the beginning of the fourth century of the Christian era, by Con- 
stantine the Great, and placed in the thermse, or baths, which that emperor erected 
on the Quirinal hill, very near to the spot where the statues now stand. These old 
baths were in good preservation when they were knocked down, about the year 1610, 
during the pontificate of Paul V., by the Cardinal Borghese, who built upon their 
site and chiefly out of their materials, the splendid palace called Palazzo Mazzarino. 
The statues, however, were removed from the baths some years bel'ore their destruc- 
tion, and placed where they now are by tlie architect Fontana, in the time of Sixtus 
v., who was pope from 1585 to 1590. Fontana also superintended the restorations 
of the statues which had been somewhat mutilated in the course of many ages and 
accidents. Each of these groups consists of a fiery horse held by a bold young man, 
and hence the Roman antiquaries, Avho often leaped to conclusions from still weaker 
premises, were induced to believe that they both were intended for Alexander the 
Great in the act of checking Bucephalus, and consequently the names of the con- 
queror and the steed are inscribed on the bases the statues stand upon. Of late years, 
however, it has been rather the fashion to call them Castor and Pollux ; and if they 
must have names — which we think scarcely necessary — these are probably as good 
as any. At all events, Phidias could not have made a statue of Alexander, from the 
simple circumstance that he died nearly a hundred years before the " Macedonian 
madman" was born. But notwithstanding that their names are confidently set down, 
" Opus Phidise" being inscribed on one base, and " Opus Praxitilis" on the other, it 
is more than probable that they were the Avorks of very different men, though from 
their beauty and spirit they must have been produced by great masters, at a time 
when art was in high perfection. Like the famous bronze horses at Venice, and the 
relievoes from the Parthenon of Athens, now in the British museum, they will 
always be cherished by people of taste as precious relics of ancient sculpture. From 
a roughness and want of finish in the hinder parts of the horses, it would seem they 
were originally intended to stand with their backs to some building. The obelisk 
that now towers between them, and which is one of the granite columns brought 
from Egypt by the old Romans, is a fine but comparatively modern addition to the 
splendor of this piazza. It was set up, about half a century ago, by Pope Pius VI., 
and, we believe, the pleasant fountain, with the large granite tazza, or basin, was 
completed at the same time. Neither the obelisk nor the fountain occurs in the old 
views of Rome, nor is either represented even in Piranesi's engravings. In the rear 
of these very striking objects, and on the side of the square opposite to the papal 
palace, there is a curious quaint building called La gran Guarda, which is occupied 
by the Swiss soldiers in the service of the pope. Beyond this are the beautiful Co- 
lonna gardens, the tall green trees of which contrast delightfully with the stern pal- 
aces and masses of stone and marble. At another corner of the square stands the 
vast palace of the Rospiglioso family. In short, whatever way the eye turns, it is 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



305 



struck with objects of beauty or grandeur, or objects that are interesting from their 
antiquity and associations. 

The arch ef Constantine, dedicated to that emperor by the senate and people of 
Rome, in memory of his victory over Maxentius, at the Ponte-Molle, stands at the 
junction of the Celian and Palatine hills, in the Via Appia, and is the most splendid, 
because the best-preserved edifice of its kind remaining in Rome. It is composed of 
stone arcades. It has, on each side, four fluted Corinthian columns, seven being 
giallo antico, and one v/hite marble ; and on the pilasters, above these columns, are 
statues of Dacian warriors. The basso-relievoes on the frieze, representing the con- 
quest of Verona, and the victory at the Ponte-Molle, together with the four figures 
of Fame, and the two medallions on the side of the arch, are proofs of the decline of 
sculpture under Constantine ; the other basso-relievoes, two excepted, below the great 
arcade (which were also done in the time of Constantine), are finely executed, and 
supposed to have been taken either from the arch or the forum of Trajan. One of 
these, fronting the Colosseum, represents the triumphal entry of Trajan into Rome ; 
and another, on the opposite side, represents him in the act of offering the sacrifice 
called Suovetaurilia. The statues of Dacian warriors, the columns of giallo antico, 
and all the cornices, were taken from the arch of Trajan. 




Arch of Constantine. 



Near the Colosseum, and on the left of the picture, are seen the remains of a foun- 
tain called Meta Sudans, which supplied the people who assisted at the shows with 
water, and might, perhaps be used in filling the arena, for the Numachiae frequently 
exhibited there. 

The arch of Titus was built by the senate and people of Rome, and dedicated to 
Titus in honor of his conquest of Jerusalem. It consists of one large arch, over 
which is an attic story. Each front was originally adorned with four fluted Compo- 
site columns. On the frieze is represented Titus's triumphal procession, together 
with the image of a river-god, probably the Jordan. Under the arch, on one side, is 
the emperor seated in a triumphal car, conducted by the Genius of Rome, and 
attended by Victory, who is crowning him with laurels. On the other side of the 
arch are the spoils of the temple of Jerusalem, namely, the table of show-bread, the 
tables of the law, the seven-branched golden candlestick, the jubilee trumpets, fee, 
copied, no doubt, from the originals, and therefore the only faithful representations 
extant of these sacred Jewish antiquities. The deification of Titus is represented on 
the roof of the inside of the arch. This edifice was nearly destroyed, that its orna- 
ments might be placed elsewhere ; but nevertheless, enough remains to prove that it 
was the most beautiful building of its kind ever erected. 

20 



306 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



The arch of Septimius Severus in Velabro, was erected by the Argentarii, bank- 
ers, and merchants of the Forum Boarium, to Septimius Severus, his empress, Julia, 
and their son, Caracalla. The sculpture resembles, in style, that on the triumphal 
arch of Severus. Adjoining to this arch is the church of St. Giorgio in Velabro, 
supposed to stand on the site of the basilica of Sempronius. 

The arch of Janus Quadrifrons was composed of immense blocks of white Greek 
marble, and was once adorned with columns, which have disappeared. The brick- 
work above the cornice is of the middle ages. The edifice seems originally to have 
been either a markethouse, or an exchange, of which there were several in ancient 
Rome, almost every forum being provided with one of them. 

To the left of the arch of Janus Quadrifrons is a small stream of limpid water, 
which discharges itself into the Cloaca-Maxima ; and which tradition reports to be 
the lake of Juturna, where Castor and Pollux were seen to water their horses after 
the battle at the Lacus-Regillus. 

The great common sewer of Cloaca-Maxima was constructed by Tarquinius Pris- 
cus, of rude stones, regularly placed, but without cement, and forming three rows 
of arches. It entered the Tiber between the Pons-Senatorius and the temple of 
Vesta, and its mouth may be discovered when the river is low. Part of this building 
lies close to the arch of Janus. Pliny says that the common sewers were the most 
surprising public works at Rome, being cut through hills and under the very foun- 
dations of the city, and moreover, so spacious that a cart loaded with hay might pass 
through them. Common sewers were unknown in Greece, and invented by the Ro- 
mans. The smaller sewers all communicated with the Cloaca-Maxima. These 
sewers were continually cleansed by streams of water resembling rivers. 

The temple of Vesta is now the Chiesa di St. Maria del Sole. When this temple 
was erected is uncertain, but it is said to have been repaired by T)omitian. Here are 
nineteen beautiful Corinthian fluted columns, of Parian marble, which stand on sev- 
eral steps, and form a circular portico round a Cella, likewise circular, the wall of 
which is also composed of blocks of Parian marble ; and so exquisitely are these 
materials joined, that they appear to be only one piece. The ancient roof was 
bronze, but this, together with the entablature, and one of the columns (for there 
were twenty), can no longer be found. Here, according to some opinions, the Vestal 
virgins kept the celebrated Palladium, and the sacred fire. The Vestal virgins were 
so called from their goddess Vesta, or fire ; Vesta being derived from the Hebrew 
root meaning fire. They were bound to keep the sacred fire unextinguished, and 
likewise to reconcile persons who had quarreled with each other. The temples of 
Vesta were always circular ; perhaps in allusion to the sun. 

The temple of Fortuna Virile is now Chiesa di St. Maria Egiziaca. This temple 




View of Cloaca-Maxima, Temple of Vesta, and Temple of Fortane. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 307 

is supposed to have been erected by Servius TuUius ; but the elegant fluted columns 
with which it is adorned, prove that it must have been repaired at a later period. It 
seems, like many of the ancient Roman edifices, to have suffered from fire ; in order 
to conceal the effects of which, perhaps, the fine stucco that covers the columns and 
entablature might be employed. The form of this temple is Grecian ; the columns 
are Ionic ; and the ornaments of the entablature, though injured by time, are slill 
visible. 

Near to the Palatine, or Senatorian bridge, now called the Ponte-Rotto, are re- 
mains of an edifice denominated the house of Pilate, but really that of Nicholas 
Crescens, supposed to have been the son of Pope John X. 

The Chiesa di St. Maria in Cosmedin, is conjectured to be the temple of Modesty, 
erected by Virginia, the wife of Volumnius. This edifice stands a little to the left 
of the temple of Jupiter Stator. In the portico is an ancient mask, probably intended 
as the ornament of a fountain, but, in consequence of an idea once prevalent among 
the populace that oracles issued from it, called Bocca della Verita. Judging by the 
fine antique marble columns discoverable in the walls of this church, the edifice 
must have been originally large and handsome. The pavement consists of porphyry 
and other precious marbles ; the high altar is adorned with an ancient bath or sar- 
cophagus of red Egyptian granite ; and in the tribuna is an ancient pontifical chair. 
The first custode of Arcadia, Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni, was buried in this 
church ; his monument is near the great^door. 

The Palace of the Cmsars. — On the'Mons Palatinus, where Romulus founded 
Rome, Augustus began, and Domitian finished, the splendid palace of her emperors, 
which, like a little city, covered the hill. The form of this palace, nearly a paral- 
lelogram, may still be traced; and ruins of one half are discoverable in the Orti 
Farnesiani, and of the other half in the garden belonging to the English college, the- 
convent of San Bonaventura, and the garden of the Villa-Spada. The entrance seems 
to have been from the Via-Sacra. The gardens of Adonis, on each side of Avhich 
was a hippodrome, belonged to this imperial residence ; and the Claudian aqueduct 
supplied it with water. In order to see everything now remaining, the best way is 
to drive nearly up to the arch of Titus, then turn to the right, and, a little way on, 
is a gate, which opens into the Orto Farnesiani. After entering this garden, and 
ascending some steps that lead to three small dilapidated modern edifices, one of 
which, surmounted by a turret, contains frescoes that, though much injured, merit 
notice, you are presented with a beautiful view of the temple of Peace; and further 
on, is the spot where the Arcadian academy originally assembled, amid evergreeni 
oaks, wood-laurels, and fragments of the entablature, frieze, cornices, and capitals, 
of columns, which seem to have once belonged to the temple of Apollo, built by 
Augustus after the victory of Actium ; for, among the decorations of the frieze and 
cornice, are griflins and tridents interlaced with dolphins, symbols of a naval tri- 
umph ; moreover, griffins were consecrated to Apollo. These finely-executed frag- 
ments are now overgrown by the acanthus, which flourishes here so luxuriantly, that 
one might fancy it planted on purpose to point out the source of Corinthian archi- 
tectural ornaments. Here lies neglected, on the grass, the original medallion of the 
arms of Arcadia,*the Syrinx of Pan encircled with pine and laurel ; which medal- 
lion once adorned the place of meeting. The Arcadian academy, one of the most 
celebrated in Europe, was founded in the year 169Q, and warmly patronised by Chris- 
tina of Sweden and the literati of her time. Its members, at the commencement of 
the institution, met in the Farnese garden, and afterward, at the Bosco Parrasio, on 
the Janiculum hill ; but at present they assemble in a house provided for them by the 
Roman government, and in which resides their custode-generale. 

This garden likewise contains two small subterranean apartments, commonly 
called the baths of Livia ; in which, by the aid of torches, remains may be discov- 
ered of beautiful arabesques, and a considerable quantity of gilding, bright as if just 
done ; here, also, are small basso-relievoes, in stucco. Beyond the baths of Livia is 
a dilapidated villa, of modern date, adorned with frescoes, probably by Raphael's 
scholars ; and from a terrace here, the view of Rome, and its environs, is magnifi- 
cent. Returning hence, and going round that part of the garden which fronts the 
capitol, you find a considerable number of subterranean buildings, some of which 
resemble the Sette Salle belonging to Titus's baths ; and might, probably, like them, 
have served as reservoirs for water. This garden also contains ruins of the theatre 
built by Caligula, and a spacious hall, the roof of which is well preserved. 



308 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

On quitting the Orti Farnesiani, and continuing to ascend the Palatine hill, you 
find, on the left, the Chiesa di San Bonaventura ; previous to reaching which, turn 
through a gateway, on the right, that leads to the Villa-Spada, a modern edifice built 
on the foundations of some part of the imperial residence, and probably that called 
Nero's Golden House, which joined the imperial palace of Augustus, and is supposed 
to have extended over the whole of the Celian hill. Under the steeple of the church 
of St. John and St. Paul are ruins of a noble portico, which is said to have belonged 
to this golden house ; and foundations of other buildings, which probably belonged 
to it likewise, may be traced the whole way from the Villa-Spada to the Esquiline 
hill. It had a triple portico, supported by a thousand columns ; it contained accom- 
modations for animals, both wild and tame ; and in the vaulted roofs of the banquet- 
ing-rooms were machines of ivory that turned round, and, from pipes, scattered 
flowers and perfumes. The principal eating-room was a rotunda, so constructed that 
it turned round night and day, in imitation of the motion of the earth ; and the baths 
were supplied with sea water, and the sulphureous waters of Albulse. 

On entering Villa-Spada, you find a portico adorned with frescoes, all of which, 
except one that represents Venus, and is attributed to Raphael, are by Giulio Roma- 
no, who has painted on the roof two small pictures, representing Hercules, some of 
the Muses, and other heathen divinities. The garden of the Villa contains three 
ancient subterranean apartments, which are beautiful in point of architecture, and 
well preserved : they seem originally to have been adorned with arabesques, judging 
from the remains now distinguishable ; and here was found the superb basin of red 
porphyry which adorns the circular hall in the Vatican Museum. Beyond these sub- 
terranean apartments, and quite at the end of the garden, are a few balustrades, said 
by some authors to mark the spot where the signal for commencing the games in the 
Circus Maximus was given. To the left of this spot is a large oblong court, supposed 
to have been a hippodrome ; and a magnificent hall, the roof of which is entire, and 
decorated with medallions in stucco. 

The garden of the convent of San Bonaventura contains ruins of the aqueduct 
erected by Nero, as a continuation of the Claudian aqueduct, to supply his golden 
house with water. 

From the Villa-Spada go back to the arch of Titus, pass that of Constantine, and, 
when nearly parallel with the church of San Gregorio sul Monte-Celio, turn to the 
right toward the Forura-Boarium, and you will find a door leading, by a narrow flight 
of steps, to what is now called the Palazzo de' Cesari, in the garden of the English 
college. Here are considerable vestiges of stately porticoes, spacious halls, and 
numberless arches, interspersed with evergreen oaks, laurels, flowering shrubs, aloes, 
and Indian figs, forming altogether a most picturesque and impressive scene. One 
part of these ruins completely overlooks the Circus Maximus, which lies immediately 
below it ; and here is a terrace, probably the site of the banqueting hall of the em- 
perors, whence Nero threw down his napkin, as a signal for beginning the games, 
when the populace were clamorous for their commencement; and where Caligula, 
on being roused from sleep by a similar clamor, ordered the gladiators to drive away 
the people, in consequence of which cruel command several were killed. The an- 
cient pavement of the terrace still remains entire ; and from this ^ot the continua- 
tion of the Claudian aqueduct by Nero may be seen to great advantage. Fragments 
of ancient paintings are discoverable throughout all the ruins of the Palazzo de' 
Cesari. The following is an account of the building of this celebrated palace : — 

" His paternal mansion having been destroyed by fire, Augustus built a house on 
the middle of the hill toward the Aveniine, adding to it a temple of Apollo, a porti- 
co, and a library. It was enlarged by Tiberius in the direction of the Velabrum, and 
by Caligula, who raised a front with porticoes in the Forum, and a bridge supported 
by marble columns, in order to unite it with the Capitoline hill. 

" The whole Palatine was not extensive enough for the improvements made by 
Nero, which occupied the space between this hill, the Esquiline, and the gardens of 
Mecaenas under the ' agger.' This immense palace contained extensive gardens, 
woous, ponds, baths, and several other buildings. Having been destroyed by fire in 
the 64tri vear of our era, Nero repaired it with such magnificence, that it was called 
the ' domus aurea,' or golden house. It would be difficult to form an idea of its 
magnificence. According to ancient writers, it was surrounded by porticoes having 
xiot less than three thousand columns ; and before the vestibule was his colossus in 
bronze, one hundred and twenty feet high, the work of the celebrated Zenodorus. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 309 

Most of the rooms and halls were adorned with statues, columns, and precious mar- 
bles. 

" The palace not being finished at the death of Nero, a considerable sum was as- 
signed by Otho for its completion ; but OAving to the shortness of his reign his orders 
were not executed. Vespasian and Ti^^us demolished, or destined to other uses, the 
part on the Esquiline ; they built the Colosseum and thermae : their successors embel- 
lished or partially changed the palace on the Palatine. After the translation of the 
empire it was abandoned, suffered much under Alaric in 410, and Genseric in 455, 
when the bronze vases and the sacred utensils of the temple of Jerusalem were taken 
away. It was, however, continually restored, served as the residence of the emperor 
Heraclius in the seventh century, and existed even in the eighth." 

The Circus Maximus was selected by Romulus to celebrate games in honor of 
Neptune, surnamed Census, from which they were called Consualia ; at these was 
eflTected the rape of the Sabine women. To commemorate this event the subterra- 
nean altar of Consus was erected in the circus ; it was uncovered for the sacrifice 
before the games commenced, and then covered again with earth. Tarquinius Pris- 
cus built the circus, which, from its size, received the appellation of maximus. The 
circenses, or games of the circus, were the favorite amusement of the Romans. They 
consisted principally of chariot-races (each chariot having two or four horses), and of 
various athletic games. Dionysius, of Halicarnassus, who visited this circus after its 
enlargement under Julius Caesar, says that it was three and a half stadii, or nearly 
half a mile in lengtii, four plethre, or four hundred feet in breadth, and that it could 
contain 150,000 persons. It was greatly injured by the fire which occurred under 
Nero, but being restored by Vespasian and by Trajan, it could hold 250,000 persons. 
It was further enlarged under Constantine, and according to the notice of the empire 
it then aff'orded room for 405,000. 

The circus was of an oblong form ; one of the ends was semicircular, the other a 
gentle curve. At the semicircular end was the grand entrance ; at the curve were 
the carceres, or starting-place. In the middle was the spina, a long, nairrow plat- 
form, covered with arse, statues, columns, and two obelisks ; at the extremities were 
the metae, round which it was necessary that the cars should pass seven times before 
they were entitled to the prize. 

A triple line of porticoes placed over each other, and numerous rows of seats, as 
in the theatres and amphitheatres, were destined for the spectators. At the foot of 
the podium, appropriated in all these places of public amusement to the dignitaries 
of the empire, was a canal, called the euripus, nine feet in breadth and depth, added 
by Julius Csesar. Although originally destined for the chariot-races, yet wrestling, 
pugilistic games, footracing, the hunting of wild beasts, and other manly exercises, 
were practised in the circus. It was on this spot, according to Aulus Gellius, that 
Androcles, condemned to fight in the games, was recognised by the lion from whose 
foot he had taken a thorn in Africa ; the animal licked his hands and spared his life. 

Besides the great circus, there existed several others in Rome — the Flaminian, that 
of Flora, the Sallustian, those of Caligula, Adrian, Heliogabalus, Alexander Severus, 
and Romulus, son of Maxentius ; this last is situated on the Appian way. 

The Baths of Titus. — These baths, which twenty years since were completely 
choked up with rubbish and vegetable earth, apparently thrown in to destroy them, 
are now open to the light of day, and exhibit beautiful frescoes in as perfect preser- 
vation as they could have been when first produced by the artist's pencil near two 
thousand years ago. The Romans learned the use of baths from the Greeks, and 
though at first employed merely for the purposes of health, they in time became an 
object of luxury and magnificence. The baths of Titus were smaller than those of 
Diocletian and Caracalla, but superior in point of architecture, and more elegantly 
ornamented ; the lower part of the edifice served for bathing, the upper part for acad- 
emies and gymnastic exercises. Communicating with the baths are ruins, called the 
Palace of Titus, where the group of Laocoon and his children was found. The story 
of Laocoon is told by Virgil, and will form the best introduction to our notice of the 
celebrated group known by that name. The terrible fate of the unfortunate man and 
his children was brought upon them, according to the poet, by the father's disobedi- 
ence to the will of Minerva : — 

" Laocoon, Neptune's priest by lot that year, 
With solemn pomp then sacrificed a steer : 
When, dreadful to behold, from sea we spied 
Two serpents ranked abreast the seas divide, 



310 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

And smoothly sweep along the Bwelling tide. 

Their flaming crests above the waves they show, 

Their bellies seem to bum the seas below : 

Their speckled tails advance to steer their course, 

And on the sounding shore the flying billows force. 

And now the strand, and n^w the plain they held. 

Their ardent eyes with bloody streaks were filled: 

Their nimble tongues they brandished as they came, 

And licked their hissing jaws that sputtered flame. 

We fled amazed ; their destined way they take. 

And to Laocoon and his children make : 

And first around the tender boys they wind, 

Then with their sharpened fangs their limbs and bones grind. 

The wretched father, running to their aid 

With pious haste, but vain, they next invade : 

Twice round his waist their winding volumes rolled. 

And twice about his gasping throat they fold, 

The priest, thus doubly choked, their crests divide 

And tow'ring o'er his head in triumph ride." 

Dryiieris Translation. 

The Laocoon was found behind the haths of Titus on the old Esquiline hill, and 
not in a chamber belonging to this edifice, as is commonly asserted. It happens 
that there is no doubt at all, at least we think there is none, about the period when 
this work of art was executed. Pliny, in his " Natural History" (book xxxvi. 5), 
speaks of a group which he calls the Laocoon. It was in the palace of the emperor 
Titus ; and, in the judgment of Pliny, superior to every other effort either of the sculp- 
tor or the painter. " Three most excellent sculptors," he adds, " united to produce 
this work, which was made of a single stone, both the principal figure, the children, 
and the snakes. The sculptors were all natives of Rhodes, and their names were 
Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus." The only objection to admitting the Lao- 
coon now in Rome to be the Laocoon which Pliny saw in the palace of Titus, is, the 
fact that the group is not formed of a single piece of marble. But this difficulty may 
be readily removed by considering that it is next to impossible that such a combina- 
tion of figures as Pliny describes could be formed of a single block, and we therefore 
conclude that the writer may have been deceived by the accuracy with which the 
parts were united ; or, what is quite as likely, he was as careless in speaking of this 
as he has been about many other things. 

As a specimen of skUl in sculpture, we believe most connoisseurs allow a very high 
rank to the Laocoon. At one time it was generally supposed that such a specimen 
of art could only belong to what is called the best age of Greek sculpture; that is, to 
some period before the death of Alexander (B. C. 323). Winkelmann assigned it to 
Lysippus, a contemporary of the Macedonian king ; but his countryman, Lessing, op- 
posed this high authority, and we must now fairly allow the Laocoon to be a work 
executed for the emperor Titus, by the three Greek sculptors just named. Instead, 
then, of believing that the age of perfect Greek sculpture was limited to the short 
period of Phidias, and the times immediately following him, we find that, in the first 
and second centuries of the Christian era, the excellence of Grecian art remained 
still unimpaired, under the patronage of the emperors and the wealthy citzens of 
Rome. 

To judge of the truth with which a statue represents the human form either in 
action or repose, is, we believe, not in the power of one man in ten thousand. It re- 
quires a knowledge of the external anatomy of the body, and such a careful study 
of the naked human form, as very few have the opportunity of obtaining ; and we 
may add, comparatively few, even if they had the opportunity of seeing, are gifted 
with the necessary power of comparing the whole proportions of the real and the 
imitated figure. It is not so difficult to form a more accurate estimate of the execu- 
tion of a single part, such as a nose, a hand, or a foot. 

The figure of Laocoon belongs to tiie highest class of robust manliness and appa- 
rent strength, or rather it seems something above the ordinary standard of human 
power. The appearance of sufTering and agony is intense, nor could these feelings 
perhaps have been more successfully portrayed ; but the agony is that of despair: 
there is nothing like the resistance of true courage ; nor does there appear to us, in 
the position of the serpent which is attacking the father, any sufficient cause for the 
total despair with which he is overwhelmed. That the sculptors have not repre- 
sented with accuracy the mode in which such enormous serpents attack their prey, 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



211 




The Group of the Laocoon, at Rome. 



312 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

may perhaps be considered a weak objection ; but we must maintain that the mode 
in which serpents of the boa class encircle their victims would have been in little 
harmony with the total abandonment exhibited by Laocoon while he still seems to 
have so much strength to resist. The description of Virgil contains both more truth 
and feeling than the work of the sculptors. It is another objection to this group, and 
not a new one, that the father is so absorbed in his own sufferings, as to pay no re- 
gard to those of his sons. The one on the left has not yet felt the deadly bite, by 
which the artists probably supposed the father's strength to be at once paralyzed : he 
turns an imploring look toward his agonizing parent, but in vain. The other son is 
already feeling the fatal wound : in his anguish he raises one arm, and with the other 
tries in vain to arrest his deadly enemy. The monster which has wound round his 
father's manly limbs, has compressed with his enormous folds the child's more ten- 
der frame; and nothing can be conceived more faithfully expressed than the utter 
helplessness and deprivation of all strength which we see in the extremities of the 
boy's body. 

As the subject of this and many other works of Grecian art does not belong to the 
events of ordinary life, it is not right to judge of such a group as the Laocoon merely 
as a specimen of imitative art. All the parts of which it is composed are indeed 
objects existing in nature, but the union of the whole belongs to the imagination , 
and if the contemplation of it deeply excites those feelings which the artist intended 
to move, so far he has succeeded, and so far we admire. In witnessing the efforts 
of a great actor few men can view unmoved the various passions of anger, remorse, 
and deepfelt agony, which are exhibited in the living picture before us. Sculpture, in 
its cold forms of marble, can hSrdly hope to attain to such excellence in representing 
the deep passif)ns and sufferings of humanity ; and, beautiful as some specimens of 
this description are, we prefer to see the skill of the sculptor displayed in more tran- 
quil scenes, and in the creation of forms of ideal beauty. 

Not far from the palace of Titus the Belvidere Antinous, or, according to Visconti, 
Mercury, was found likewise. Near this spot were the gardens of Mecsenas, in a 
building belonging to which Nero stood to see Rome in flames ; and, near this spot 
also were the houses of Horace and Virgil. The baths of Titus are damp. 

To the east of the palace and baths of Titus, and enclosed within a garden, are 
immense reservoirs, called Sette Salle, which evidently belonged to the baths, and 
are in tolerable preservation. 

The Chiesa di St. Martine in Monte, a beautiful church, not far distant from the 
Sette Salle, is erected upon that part of the baths of Titus which was added by Do- 
mitian and Trajan ; such, at least, seems to be the opinion of antiquaries : because 
the brickwork in these baths is very inferior to that in the baths built by Titus. 

The modern edifice is adorned with twenty-four magnificent columns, brought 
from Adrian's villa at Tivoli. The vase for holy water is ancient. The high altar, 
erected about forty years ago, is peculiarly rich in precious marbles ; the paintings 
which adorn its vicinity were done by Antonio Cavalluccio, who lies buried here. 
The side aisles are embellished with landscapes by Gasparo Pouissin, the figures in 
which are by Niccolo Pouissin, and the upper landscapes are remarkably well pre- 
served. The chapel of the Madonna, at the end of the loft-side aisle, is ornamented 
with paintings by CavaMuccio, and very fine marbles. The steps leading down to 
the burial-place under the high-altar, and the burial-place itself, were designed by 
Pietro di Cortona ; and here are other stairs, leading to the ancient subterranean 
church, which is a part of the baths called those of Titus, and famous for being the 
spot where Pope St. Silvestro held a council assisted by Constantine and his mother. 
The mosaic pavement and matted roof of the baths (on which perhaps were paint- 
ings) still remain perfect, as do the walls, and here you encounter no very damp air : 
therefore invalids may go down with safety. 

The Chiesa di St. Pietro in Vincoli is a fine church, which owes its present form 
to Antonio Sangallo, and has a double cupola, like that of St. Peter's. The three 
aisles are divided by twenty magnificent Doric columns of Grecian marble taken 
from Diocletian's baths; the circular wall behind the high-altar made a part of 
Titus's baths, whence the pavement of the sacristy likewise was taken. Here is a 
pictute of St. Margherita, by Guercino. Here also is the monument of Julius II., 
designed by Buonarotti, who died soon after he had finished the much-admired figure 
of Moses, in consequence of which the other figures were done by Montelupo. The 
monuments of Cardinals Magotti and Agucci were executed after the designs of Do- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 313 

menichino ; and at the end of the tribuna is an ancient pontifical chair in high pres- 
ervation. The sacristy contains a picture, by Domenichino, of St. Peter delivered 
from prison. 

The Chiesa di St. Maria della Navicella, so called from the model of an ancient 
galley, said to have been a votive offering, and placed before it by Leo X., is a church 
designed by Raphael, and supposed to stand on the site of the ancient Castra Pere- 
grina, or barracks for auxiliary soldiers, and is embellished with fine columns of por- 
phyry and granite, and a frieze beautifully painted in chiaro scuro by Giulio Romano 
and Pierino del Vaga. The presbytery, likewise, was painted by the same artists, as 
were two altar-pieces of the chapels, one representing part of the transfiguration, the 
other the baptism of our Savior. 

Near this spot is the arch of the consul Dolabella, over which Nero erected the 
aqueduct that supplied his '* Golden House" with water. 

The Capitol. — This celebrated hill was thus named by Tarquinius Priscus ; in dig- 
ging the earth in order to lay the foundations of the temple of Jupiter, a head (caput) 
was found on the spot which circumstance the augur considered as a presage that the 
city would become the capital of the world. 

This hill was previously named Saturnius, from the town built here by Saturn, and 
Tarpeius after the death of Tarpeia, the daughter of the commander to whom Romulus 
had intrusted its defence against the attacks of the Sabines. 

Its form is an irregular ellipsis, sloping at each extremity to the west ; the two 
elevations at the extremities were known by the ancients under the name of Capito- 
lium and Arx, on account of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, situated to the north, 
and of the citadel to the west ; the space between them was named Intermontium. 
The height of this hill above the level of the sea is one hundred and fifty feet and the 
circumference 4,400. 

In ancient times it was enclosed on all sides, being accessible only from the Forum 
by the " Clivus Sacer or Asyli," the " Clivus Capitolinus" and the " Centum Grades 
rupis Tarpeise." By the first access, those who obtained the honors of a triumph, 
ascended to the temple ; its direction followed the line of the cordonata which now 
leads to the arch of Severus. The Clivus Capitolinus formed two branches, one 
leading from the Forum to the arch of Tiberius situated on the spot where the hospital 
name the Consolazione now stands, the pavement of the other remains near the 
column of Phocas ; the two branches unite behind the temple of Fortune under a 
modern house ; they followed the direction of the Intermontium passing under the 
entrance of the Tabularium, and the tower bearing the arjns of Boniface IX. The 
third ascent led to the citadel near the Tarpeian rock. 

The citadel or arx was enclosed with walls and towers even on the side of the 
Intermontium. These walls were of large blocks of volcanic stone or gray tufi"o, a 
specimen of which is still visible in a gallery under the Cafiarelli palace. Within 
the arx were the houses or rather cottages of Romulus, of Tatius, of Manlius, the 
temple of Jupiter F ere trius built by Romulus to receive the spoils of the victory which 
he gained over Acron, chief of the Cerumnians, and many other temples and altars 
on which account it was also named " Ara Sacrorum." 

On the north side of the Intermontium was the asylum established by Romulus in 
order to increase the population of his city ; on the south were the tabularium, the 
Athenfeum and Capitoline library. The Tabularium derived its name from the bronze 
table deposited in it, on which were inscribed the senatus consulti, the decrees of the 
people, the treaties of peace, of alliance and other public documents. It was built 
by Catulus, the successor of Sylla in the dictature, 84 years before the Christian era ; 
was burnt in the contest between the soldiers of Vitellius and Vespasian, and was 
rebuilt by the latter who collected, in 3,000 bronze tables, the acts which had been 
scattered over the whole empire- 
Some remains of the portico of this edifice are still existing toward the Forum ; 
they are of the Doric order in peperino, with the capitals in travertine. 

On the summit of the hill overlooking the Corso, where the church ofAracelinow 
stands, was the celebrated temple of Jupiter Capitolinus built by Tarquin the Proud 
in fulfilment of the vow made by Tarquinius Priscus, after the last Sabine war. Hav- 
ing been destroyed three times by fire it was rebuilt by Sylla, Vespasian, and Domitian. 
Under Sylla its dimensions were, according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, in Roman 
feet, circumference 770, length 200, breadth 185. The front having a triple row of 
columns (which was double on the sides) faced the south. The cella was divided 



314 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




The Capitol. 



into three naves with ediculae or chapels ; of those on the sides, one was dedicated 
to Juno, the other to Minerva, and the third in the centre to Jupiter. It was in front 
of this temple that the generals to whom triumphal honors had been decreed, sacri- 
ficed for the victories which they had obtained, and in the court named the Area 
Capitolina, enclosed with porticoes, they partook of a banquet after the sacrifice. 

This temple was entire under Honorius; Stilicon stripped it of part of its ornaments ; 
Genseric in 445 carried away the gilt bronzes which formed its covering ; in the 
eighth century it was falling into ruins, and in the ninth, had altogether disappeared. 

The Modern Capitol. — This edifice contains numerous objects of art, which render 
it a spot of the highest interest. The modern embellishments are works of Paul IIL 
who raised the two lateral buildings on the designs of Michael Angelo, renewed the 
senatorial palace, opened the street to the north west, and built the steps of the ascent. 

At the foot of the balustrades are two Egyptian lions, of black granite, found near 
the church of San Stefano ; on the top, are two colossal statues of Castor and Pollux, 
in pentelic marble, found near the Jews' synagogue ; two marble trophies, called the 
trophies of Marius, though the style of sculpture resembles that of the early times of 
.Septimius Severus ; two statues of Constantine Augustus and of Constantine Csesar 
found in the thermae of Constantine on the Quirinal ; two columns, the one on the 
right of the ascent is an ancient milestone indicating the first mile of the Appian way 
where it was found in 1584 ; the column on the left is modern ; the ball, however, 
is ancient, and as it was found at the base of Trajan's column it is supposed that it 
once contained the ashes of that emperor. 

In the centre of the square is the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, found near 
St. John Lateran's and placed on this spot by Paul III. under the direction of 
Michael Angelo. This is the only bronze equestrian statue remaining of all those 
which adorned ancient Rome. 

The Senatorial Palace. — On the ruins of the Tabularium, Boniface IX. built a palace 
in 1380 for the residence of the senators. Paul III. ornamented it with Corinthian 
pilasters under the direction of Michael Angelo. At the fountain placed here by 
Sixtus V. are three antique statues, one represents Minerva the drapery of which is of 
porphyry, found near Cora ; and the two others the Nile and the Tiber in Parian 
marble, found in the temple of Serapis on the Quirinal. 

The large hall leads to the tower of the capitol raised under Gregory XIII. by 
Longhi, a situation offering the most extensive views of Rome and its environs. 

The Museum. — In the court is a colossal statue of the Ocean formerly stationed 
near the arch of Severus, with two satyrs, and two sarcophagi, of inferior style but 
interesting as connected with ancient customs ; on one is represented a double chase 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 315 

with arms and nets ; on the walls are inscriptions in memory of several pretorian 
soldiers. 

The Portico. — To the left of the entrance are a colossal statue of Minerva, a 
head of Cybele from the Villa Adriana, and a fragment of a statue of a captive king 
in violet marble. 

On the right of the entrance are a statue of Diana of beautiful drapery ; ji colossal 
statue of Diana, a Jupiter, an Adrian offering sacrifice, and a remnant of a statue of 
Ceres in porphyry, remarkable for the elegance of the drapery. 

The Hall of Inscriptions. — Around the walls are one hundred and twenty-two im- 
perial and consular inscriptions, offering a chronological series from Tiberius to 
Theodosius. In the centre is a square altar of ancient Greek style, on which are 
represented the labors of Hercules. 

The Hall of the Urn. — Thus named from a large sarcophagus in white marble 
covered with bas-reliefs relating the most remarkable incidents in the life of Achilles: 
in the front is represented his quarrel with Agamemnon on account of Briseis ; on the 
sides his departure from Scyros, and vengeance for the death of Patroclus ; behind is 
Priam supplicating for the body of Hector. The remaining objects of interest in this 
room are a Mosaic found at Antium ; a Palmyrean monument erected to Agliobolus 
and Malacbelus, as is ascertained by the inscription in Greek and Palmyrean ; a bas- 
relief of a priest of Cybele, and a small statue of Pluto and Cerberus. 

On the walls of the staircase are fragments of the ancient plan of Rome found in 
the ruins of the temple of Remus on the sacred way. We may notice particularly 
the site of the baths of Sura, the porticoes of Octavia, and Hercules, buildings of the 
Forum, viz.: the Emilia and Julia basilicae, the greecostasis, a part of the imperial 
palace, the amphitheatre, theatre of Pompey, and part of the thermae of Titus. 

The Hall of the Vase. — The large marble vase formerly in the centre was found 
near the tomb of Cecilia Metella and is placed on an antique altar having figures of 
the twelve divinities with their several attributes ; another vase in bronze found in 
the sea near Antium was a present from King MithridatesEupator to the gymnasium 
of theEupatorists. On the two sarcophagi are sculptured in bas-relief the formation 
and destruction of man according to the Neo-Platonic system and the fable of Diana 
and Endymion. We may notice also the bas-relief of the Iliac table which relates 
several events of the Iliad, a tripod, and two statues of the Ephesian Diana. The 
Mosaic representing doves is an imitation of the celebrated work of Sosus, mentioned 
by Pliny and then existing at Pergamos in Asia Minor. It was found in the Villa 
Adriana at Tivoli. 

The Gallery. — Opposite to the great staircase are the busts of Marcus Aurelius 
and Septimius Severus, found at Antium in the ruins of the imperial villa, and in the 
gallery those of Cato the censor, Scipio Africanus, Phocion, Adrian, Caligula, Cara- 
calla, Marcus Aurelius, and Domitius ^aobarbus. The inscriptions on the walls 
were found in the columbarium or sepulchral chamber of the slaves and freedmen of 
Livia, on the Appian way ; the statue of a woman in a state of intoxication on the 
Nomentana. On a vase of a curious form is figured a Bacchanalian scene, and on a 
sarcophagus the rape of Proserpine. 

The Hall of the Emperors. — On the walls are several interesting bas-reliefs: the 
hunt of the Caledonian boar by Meleager ; a sleeping Endymion, considered as a 
masterpiece of antique sculpture ; Hylas carried away by the Nymphs. 

In the middle of this room is the seated statue of Agrippina, wife of Germanicus, 
but, in the opinion of some, of an unknown Roman lady. The busts of the emperors, 
empresses, and Caesars, are placed in chronological order. 

The series commences with that of Julius Cffisar : we shall notice particularly 
those of Marcellus, the nephew of Augustus, Tiberius, his brother Drusus and Ger- 
manicus, Caligula, Messalina, Nero, Poppsea, his wife, Otho,Vitellius, Julia, daughter 
of Titus, Plotina, wife of Trajan, Adrian, Sabina, his wife, and -iElius Caesar, his son 
by adoption, the latter a bust in high preservation, and very rare. The remainder 
are Annius Verus, found near Civita Lavinia ; Commodus, his wife Crispina, Didius 
Julian, Pescennius Niger, Septimius Severus, Decius, and Julian surnamed the Apostate. 

The Hall of the Philosophers. — A collection of portraits of literary and philosophic 
personages of antiquity collected here has given it this denomination. The most 
interesting bas-reliefs are those of Hector conveyed to the funeral pile, accompanied 
by Hecuba and Andromache in tears ; a sacrifice to Hygeia, in rosso antico, and 
fragment of a Bacchanalian bearing the name of the sculptor Callimachus. 



316 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Among these busts, which have been identified, are the following: Diogenes, 
Demosthenes, three of Euripides, four of Homer, two of Sophocles, Thucydides, 
Julian, Archimedes, and Sappho. 

The Saloon. — The two columns of giallo antico, twelve and a half feet in height, 
were found near the tomb of Cecilia Metella ; the two Victories, supporting the 
arras of Clement XII., at the arch of Marcus Aurelius, in the Corso. A Jupiter 
and an Esculapius in nero antico, at Antium ; the two Centaurs, in the Villa Adriana ; 
an infant Hercules, on the Aventine ; this statue is placed on a rectangular altar, the 
bas-reliefs of which allude to the Theogony of Hesiod ; Rhea in the pains of labor ; 
the same goddess offering a stone to Saturn instead of her son Jupiter; Jupiter nour- 
ished by the goat Amalthea, and the Corybantes drowning his cries by the clash of 
arms ; Jupiter raised to the throne in the midst of the divinities. 

The most remarkable statues are two Amazons, Mars and Venus, a Minerva, a 
Pythian Apollo, a colossal bust of Trajan with the civic crown, a gilt bronze statue 
of Hercules holding in one hand a club, in the other the apples of the garden of the 
Hesperides ; an animated old woman supposed to be Hecuba ; a colossal bust of 
Antoninus Pius, and an Harpocrates, found at the Villa Adriana. 

The Hall of the Faun.— In the middle of this room is the beautiful Faun in rosso 
antico, found at the Villa Adriana, and fixed to the wall is the bronze inscription con- 
taining a part of the original Senatus Consultum granting the imperial dignity to 
Vespasian. 

We next observe on a sarcophagus the fable of Diana and Endymion; an altar 
dedicated to Isis ; a child playing with a mask of Silenus, the most perfect statue 
of a child handed down to us from antiquity ; a Cupid breaking his bow ; a child 
playing with a swan ; this is a copy of a work in bronze, executed by the Carthaginian 
Boethius, and praised by Pliny ; a large sarcophagus in fine preservation representing 
the battle of Theseus, and the Athenians against the Amazons ; the bas-reliefs which 
represent the vanquished Amazons are full of expression. 

The Hall of the Gladiator. — The celebrated statue of a man mortally wounded, 
called the dying gladiator, is the chief ornament of this room ; his costume, however, 
would indicate that he is a Gaul, and the statue probably formed part of a group 
representing the Gallic incursion into Greece. 

This statue has given rise to much discussion, and it is at least doubtful whether 
it bears its right name. It is thus described by Winkelmann : " It represents a man 
of toil, who has lived a laborious life, as we may see from the countenance, from one 
of the hands, which are genuine, and from the soles of the feet. He has a cord 
round his neck, which is knotted under the chin ; he is lying on an oval buckler, on 
which we see a kind of broken horn."* The rest of Winkelmann's remarks are little 
to the purpose. 

Pliny, in a long chapter of his thirty-fourth book, wherein he enumerates the most 
famous statuaries who worked in metal, mentions one called Ctesilaus, who appears 
to have lived near, or shortly after, the time of Phidias. "He made," says Pliny, 
" a wounded man expiring (or fainting), and he succeeded in expressing exactly how 
much vitality still remained." It is possible that this bronze or metal figure may be 
the original of the marble figure now in Rome, to which we give the name of the 
Dying Gladiator. As far as we can judge from the attitude, the armor, the general 
character of the figure, and the deep expression of pain and intense agony, the 
whole composition may very possibly be intended to represent the death of one of 
those wretched beings, who were compelled to slaughter each other for the amuse- 
ment of the Roman capital. The broken horn is, however, considered by some 
critics as an objection to this statue being a representation of a gladiator : the signal 
for the combat, they say, might be given with a horn, but what had the fighter to 
do with one? This seems to us a small objection. The presence of a horn does 
not necessarily imply that it belonged to the gladiator : it is a symbol, a kind of short- 
hand, which brings to recollection the crowded amphitheatre, the eager populace, the 
devoted victims, the signal for attack ; and the sad contrast to all this is exhibited in 
the figure of the dying man. As to any difficulty that may be raised about the kind 
of armor, or the cord round the neck, this may be removed by considering that the 
Romans had gladiators from all countries, and that these men often fought with their 
native weapons, and after the fashion of their own country. The savage directors 
of these spectacles knew full well the feelings of animosity with which uncivilized 

* This horn, which was broken, has been reBtored, and that near the right hand is entirely modern. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



317 




318 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

nations are apt to regard one another, and they found no way so ready for exhibiting 
to the populace all the bloody circumstances of a real battle, as to match together 
people of different nations. 

Whether this figure be that of a dying gladiator or not, it is pretty certain it will 
long retain the name, at least in the popular opinion, and it has furnished the subject 
for some of the noblest lines that one of the first of modern poets ever penned :— 

" I see before me the gladiator lie : 
He leans upon his hand — his manly brow 
Consents to death, but conquers agony, 
And his drooped head sinks gradually low — 
And through his side the last drops ebbing slow 
I'rom the red gash, fall heavy, one by one. 
Like the first of a thunder-shower ; and now 
The arena swims around him — he is gone. 
Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hailed the wretch who won. 

" He heard it, but he heeded not — his eyes 
Were with his heart, and that was far away ; 
He recked not of the life he lost, nor prize. 
But where his rude hut by the Danube lay : 
There were his young barbarians all at play, 
There was their Dacian mother — he, their sire, 
Butchered to make a Roman holyday — 
All this rushed with his blood. — Shall he expire. 
And unavenged ? — Arise, ye Goths, and glut your ire !" 

With the extension of the Roman empire by conquest, and the increase of private 
wealth obtained from the plunder of provinces, and by every species of extortion that 
could be devised, the practice of giving public exhibitions on a splendid scale became 
one of the duties of a great man, who wished to attain or secure popularity. But un- 
der the emperors the games of the amphitheatre were carried to a pilch of extrava- 
gant expenditure that far surpassed anything that had been witnessed in the latter 
days of the republic. From every part of the then known world, from the forests of 
Germany, the mountains and deserts of Africa and Asia, was brought, at enormous 
expense, every animal that could minister to the sports of the arena ; and the Roman 
populace beheld, without knowing how to appreciate, the wondrous camelopard and 
the two-horned rhinoceros, which half a century ago European naturalists were 
scarcely able to describe with precision. 

The enormous buildings erected to gratify the popular taste were all surpassed by 
the huge Colosseum of Vespasian, which has been already described. It was opened 
by his son Titus, who exhibited at once five thousand wild animals. But the fol- 
lowing extract from Tacitus will show that oneof Vespasian's predecessors had ven- 
tured to try an exhibition, different indeed from anything that the Colosseum could 
present, but not inferior in extravagance and cruelty. About fifty miles due east of 
Rome, in a wide valley enclosed by lofty mountains, lies the broad expanse of the 
lake Celano (formerly called Fucinus) : its greatest length is about fifteen miles, and 
its breadth from four to six and eight miles. The emperor at immense cost had 
made a tunnel through a mountain, which bordered on the west bank of the lake, 
and, to celebrate the opening of the tunnel with due splendor, he exhibited a naval 
battle on the waters. " About this time, after the mountain which separated the Fu- 
cine lake from the river Liris had been cut through, a sea-fight was got up on the 
lake itself for the purpose of attracting a crowd to witness the magnificent work just 
completed. The emperor Augustus once made an exhibition of this kind near the 
banks of the Tiber, by constructing an artificial pond ; bui his ships were of inferior 
size, and but few in number. Claudius equipped a hundred triremes and quadrire- 
mes, and nineteen thousand men ; he also placed floats or rafts in such a position as 
to enclose a large part of the lake, so that the combatants might not have any chance 
of escape. He allowed space enough, however, for the full working of the oars, the 
skill of the helmsman, the driving of the ships against one another, and other manoeu- 
vres in a sea-fight. On the rafts were stationed companies and bands of the Praeto- 
rian cohorts, with breastworks before them, from which they could manage the 
engines for discharging missiles. The rest of the lake was occupied by the adverse 
fleets, v?hose ships were all provided with decks. The shores of the lake, the hills 
around it, and the tops of the mountains, were like a vast amphitheatre, crowded 
with a countless multitude from the nearest towns, and some from the capital itself, 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



319 



who were attracted by the novelty of the sight, or came out of compliment to the 
emperor. The emperor himself, in a magnificent cloak, and his wife Agrippina, at 
a short distance from him, dressed in a robe embroidered with gold, presided at the 
spectacle. The combatants, though criminals condemned to death, fought with all 
the courage of brave men ; after many had been wounded, they were excused from 
completing the work of destruction on one another. At the close of the games, the 
passage for the waters was opened ; but the incompleteness of the work was soon 
evident, for the canal, so far from being deep enough to drain the lake to the bottom, 
did not carry off the waters to half their depth." The traces of this subterranean 
canal or tunnel are still visible at one extremity. 

The other fine statues in the hall of the Gladiator are Zeno, a Greek philosopher ; 
the faun of Praxiteles, found at the Villa Adriana ; Antinous, admirably designed and 
executed ; a Flora, with beautiful drapery ; the bust of Brutus ; the Juno, of a grand 
style ; a head of Alexander the Great ; an Ariadne crowned with ivy ; the statue of a 
female whose features express grief, bearing a covered vase with ofi'erings, supposed 
by some to be Isis, or a Pandora, but more probably Electra carrying funeral-offer- 
ings to the tomb of her father ; a statue of Apollo, holding the lyre, with a griffin at 
his feet, found near the sulphureous waters on the road to Tivoli. 

The Cabinet. — Some objects of interest in the history of the arts are here united, 
but are not exposed to public view. The Venus of the Capitol is admirably exe- 
cuted. The group of Cupid and Psyche was found on the Aventine. 




Cupid and Psyche. 

The Vatican. — Some writers suppose this palace to have been erected by Nero,. and 
afterward bestowed by Constantine upon the Roman pontiff's ; while others are of 
opinion that it was built by Constantine on the site of the gardens of Nero : it seems 
to have received augmentations from almost every succeeding sovereign, insomuch 
that its present circumference is computed to be near seventy thousand feet. The 
Scala Regia, or great staircase, at whose foot stands the statue of Constantine, was 
constructed by Bernini, and leads to the Sala Regia, built by Rangallo, and contain- 
ing frescoes with Latin inscriptions, explanatory of the subjects. The first painting 
over the staircase door represents Charlemagne signing the donation of the church, 
and is by Taddeo Zuccari ; another represents the entry of Gregory XI. into Rome, 
accompanied by St. Catherine, of Siena, and is by Vasari ; another, over the door 



320 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

leading to the Cappella-PaoHna,is divided into three parts — that to the right repre- 
senting Gregory VII. withdrawing the censures cast on Henry IV., in the fortress of 
Canossa ; that on the left representing the city of Tunis reconquered under Charles 
V. ; the third represents Victory and Glory. These paintings are by Taddeo and 
Federico Zuccari. 

The Cappelia-Sistina, adjoining to the Sala Regia, was built by Sixtus IV., ac- 
cording to the designs of Baccio Pintelli of Florence, and its ceiling painted by Buo- 
narotti in twenty months, so entirely without assistance that even ihe colors he used 
were prepared by himself The prophets and sibyls, the figure of the Deity, and 
those of Adam and Eve, are particularly admired. The Last Judgment, likewise by 
Buonarotti, occupies the whole wall behind the altar ; he was three years in doing 
it, and parts of this immense fresco are wonderfully fine. The following lines con- 
tain a fair comment on this picture : — 

" Good Michael Angelo, I do not jest, 
Thy pencil a great jitigment hath exprest; 
But in that judgment thou, alas, hast shown 
A very little judgment of thy own !" 

The other walls are adorned with frescoes, representing scripture-histories, by 
Pietro Perugino, and his Florentine contemporaries. The heads, by Perugino, are 
fine. 

Opposite to the Cappelia-Sistina is the Cappella-Paolina, erected by Paul III. after 
the designs of Sangallo. The two columns of porphyry, on the sides of the altar, 
were found in the temple of Romulus, and toward the end of each are two infants in 
basso-relievo. The statues in the angles are by Prospero Bresciano. The paintings, 
which represent the conversion of St. Paul and the crucifixion of St. Peter, are by 
Buonarotti ; and the fall of Simon Magus, friezes, and ornaments of the ceiling, are 
bp Federico Zuccari. 

The Sacristy, near the Cappelia-Sistina, contains magnificent plate and jewels. 

The ceiling of the Sala Ducale is decorated with arabesques, by Lorenzino da Bo- 
logno and Raphaellino da Reggio. 

The Loggia, or open gallery, above the Sala Ducale, leads to the Stanze di Rafa- 
ello, and is embellished with arabesques, interspersed with scripture-histories, by that 
great artist and his scholars. Some of the finest of these frescoes are : God dividing 
the Light from the Darkness, by Raphael ; Joseph explaining his Dreams, by Giulio 
Romana ; Joseph sold to the Ishmaelites, Joseph explaining the Dreams of Pharaoh, 
and the Baptism of the Savior, by Raphael. The greater part of the small basso- 
relievoes in this gallery are antique, and supposed to have been taken from the Colos- 
seum, the baths of Caracalla, and the villa of Adrian. 

The Stanze di Rafaello contain some of the very finest frescoes existing ; but the 
injuries these apartments have received from time, and still more from the smoke 
made in them by German soldiers, when Rome was taken by assault, A. D. 15S8, 
has rendered the paintings with which they are adorned less striking, at first sight, 
than many other frescoes ; indeed, Cignani, a celebrated artist, admired them so lit- 
tle, on a cursory review, that Carlo Maratia, provoked by his want of penetration, 
requested him to copy one of the heads in the fire of the Borgo. Cignani began, 
rubbed out, began again, and again rubbed out, till at length, after several fruitless 
attempts, he threw away his pencil, exclaiming, "Raphael is inimitable !" 

The Stanze di Rafaello are four in number, namely : the Sala di Constantino ; the 
Sala d'Eliodoro ; the Sala della Scuola de Atene ; and the Sala di ITncendio. The 
apartment leading to them is adorned with frescoes by Raphael, representing the 
apostles ; and also contains the chapel of Nicholas V., painted by Angelo di Fiesole, 
the pupil of Masaccio. 

The Hall of Constantine was designed by Raphael, and colored after his death by 
his scholars. The first picture, on the right, represents Constantine addressing his 
troops before the battle with Maxentius, and was colored by Giulio Romano. Raphael 
has represented the moment when the cross appears in the air supported by angels, 
who are supposed to be saying to Constantine, " Conquer by this." The dwarf of 
Julius II., putting on a helmet, forms an absurd episode in the picture. The next 
painting represents the battle of Constantine, fought against Maxentius, near the 
Bonte MoUe, A. D. 312 ; it was colored by Giulio Romano, Pierino del Vaga, Rafa- 
ello del Colle, and Polidoro da Caravaggio, and is, according to some opinions, the 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



33i 




322 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

first picture ia the first class of great works. The most striking groups are : An old 
soldier raising his dying son ; two soldiers fighting, in the same part of the picture ; 
and in the opposite part, Maxentius in the Tiber, vainly struggling to extricate him- 
self. The third picture represents the baptism of Constantine by Pope Sylvester, and 
was colored by Francesco Penni. Raphael has chosen, for the scene of action, the 
baptistery, built by Constantine after he had embraced Christianity, and supposed to 
be that of San Giovanni in Laterano. The fourth picture, which was colored by 
Rafaello del CoUe, represents the donation of the patrimony of the church by Con- 
stantine. The composition is admired ; but the figures of Constantine and the pope 
are said to want majesty. This picture is full of episodes, namely: soldiers driving 
the spectators back between the columns ; a beggar imploring charity, and a father 
and son answering him ; a woman with her back only visible, who leans upon two 
other women, in order to see the ceremony ; and a child mounted on a dog. 

In the second room is a picture, colored by Raphael, which represents Heliodorus, 
treasurer of Seleucus, king of Asia, who came to pillage the temple at Jerusalem, 
thrown down and vanquished by two angels and a warrior on horseback, whom God 
sent to the aid of his high priest Onias, a circumstance recorded in his second book 
of Maccabees. This picture is extremely admired, especially the angels, who are 
pursuing Heliodorus with such rapidity that they seem to fly. The warrior on horse- 
back is strikingly fine : the temple appears swept of the people in a moment, while, 
in the background, Onias is discovered at the altar invoking Heaven. The episode 
of Julius II. coming into the temple on men's shoulders appears to have been a fool- 
ish whim of his, with which Raphael was unfortunately obliged to comply, by way 
of representing that Julius, like Onias, delivered the church from its oppressors. The 
pope's chairbearer, on the left, is a portrait of Giulio Romano. In the same room is 
another picture, called the Miracle of Balsena ; it was colored by Raphael, and repre- 
sents a priest who doubted the real presence of our Savior in the eucharist, till, being 
on the point of consecrating the wafer, he saw blood drop from it. This picture is 
much admired, and was extremely difficult to compose, from being painted round a 
window, which cuts it nearly in half. Julius II. is again brought forward in an epi- 
sode, and supposed to be hearing mass ; but, as the head of the church is not to ques- 
tion the real presence in the eucharist, he testifies no surprise at the miracle, though 
the people in general express great astonishment, in which the Swiss guards coldly 
participate. The heads of the cardinals, the pope, and the priests saying mass, are 
deemed very beautiful, as is the coloring of the picture. The third painting in this 
room, celebrated for its composition and groups of figures, represents Attila, king of 
the Huns, advancing against Rome, and discovering in the air St. Peter and St. Paul 
descending to arrest his progress. Raphael has chosen the moment when the apos- 
tles are not discovered by the arrny in general, but by Attila alone. Pope St. Leo 
appears on a mule, followed by cardinals ; but Attila attends only to the apostles. 
The figure which represents St. Leo is a portrait of Leo X., and the macebearer, on 
the white horse before the pope, is a portrait of Raphael's master, Pietro Perugino. 
The two Sarmatian horsemen, near Attila, are copied from Trajan's column. The 
fourth picture in this room was colored by Raphael, and represents St. Peter deliv- 
ered from prison by an angel ; it contains a double action — first, St. Peter in prison, 
waked by the angel, and, secondly, St. Peter going out of prison, conducted by the 
angel. The apostle's figure is not admired, but that of the angel is charming ; and 
the manner in which the lights are managed is inimitable. 

The third room contains a picture, colored by Raphael, which represents the school 
of Athens, and is, in point of expression, a wonderful work ; for every philosopher, 
by his posture and gestures, characterizes his doctrines and opinions. The scene is 
laid in a magnificent building, imitated from the original designs which Bramante 
and Buonaroti made for the church of San Pietro in Vaticano. In the centre of the 
picture are Plato and Aristotle, the masters of the school, standing on the top of a 
flight of steps, and apparently defining some philosophical subject; near them is 
Socrates, counting with his fingers, and speaking to a fine martial figure, who repre- 
sents Alcibiades. Next to Socrates, and distinguished by a venerable beard, is Ni- 
comachus ; and below this group is a young man in white, with his hand upon his 
breast, said to be the portrait of Francesco, Duke of Urbino, nephew to Julius II. 
Next to Francisco stands Terpander, the Greek musician, with his eyes fixed on 
Pythagoras, who is writing, and before whom a youth holds a tablet, which contains 
the harmonic consonances. Next to Nicomachus is Alexander the Great ; and, near 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



323 




324 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Aristotle, stands a corpulent, bald-headed fig-ure, said to be the portrait of Cardinal 
Bembo. At the feet of Alcibiades, and clothed in the oriental garb, is Averroes, an 
Arabian philosopher; and immediately behind him is the profile of Aspasia. On a 
line with Pythagoras, seated at a table, and apparently in deep meditation, is Epic- 
tetus ; and beyond him, sitting alone, on the second step, is Diogenes, with a cup by 
his side; and a scroll in his hand. Raphael has pictured the great architect, Bra- 
mante, uncjer the character of Archimedes, who is tracing an hexagonal figure. The 
youth who stands behind Archimedes, in an attitude of admiration, is said to repre- 
sent Federigo Gonzaga, first Duke of Mantua. The philosopher who wears a 
crown, and holds a globe in his hand, is Zoroaster ; at whose side stand two persons, 
the younger of whom, with a black cap, is a portrait of Pi.aphael ; the elder, of 
Pietro Perugino. Talking with Zoroaster, and also holding a globe, is a figure said 
to represent Giovanni, of the house of Antistes. On the opposite side of the school, 
and next to the base of a column, is Empedocles seated, and attending to Pythagoras. 
The old head, which appears just above the book placed on the base of the column, 
is Epicharmis ; and the child with the fine hair, just above Aspasia, is Archytas. 
Connoisseurs deem the composition of this picture admirable ; the coloring soft and 
good, and the figures elegant and well-draped, and as the episodes relate to the sub- 
ject, they add materially to the interest excited by this piece. 

Having thus described the characters depicted by Raphael in his School of Athens, 
we know not that we can better illustrate this great work than by quoting the " pen 
and ink" sketch of a great master in the art of composition. Gibbon's description, 
which we are about to quot^, deals absolutely with facts, while Raphael's picture is 
only his beau ideal of the facts. But inasmuch as Gibbon groups together the char- 
acters and events of several hundred years, and gives us a vivid and highly-colored, 
and in some respects an imaginative, view of "•the School of Athens," we may 
fairly regard his picture as a companion to that of Raphael : — 

"Athens, after her Persian triumphs, adopted the philosophy of Ionia and the rhet- 
oric of Sicily, and these studies became the patrimony of a city, whose inhabitants, 
about thirty thousand males, condensed Avithin the period of a single life the genius 
of ages and millions. Our sense of the dignity of human nature is exalted by the 
recollection that Isocrates was the companion of Plato and Xenophon ; that he as- 
sisted, perhaps with the historian Thucydides, at the first representations of the 
' ffidipus' of Sophocles, and the 'Iphigenia' of Euripides; and that his pupils, 
^schines and Demosthenes, contended for the crown of patriotism in the presence 
of Aristotle, the master of Theophrastus, who taught at Athens with the founders 
of the Stoic and Epicurean sects. The ingenious youth of Attica enjoyed the ben- 
efits of their domestic education, which was communicated without envy, to the rival 
cities. Two thousand disciples heard the lessons of Theophrastus; the schools of 
rhetoric must have been still more populous than those of philosophy, and a rapid 
succession of students diff"used the fame of their teachers as far as the utmost limits 
of the Grecian language and name. Those limits were enlarged by the victories of 
Alexander ; the arts of Athens survived her freedom and dominion ; and the Greek 
colonies which the Macedonians planted in Egypt and scattered over i\sia, under- 
took long and frequent pilgrimages to worship the Muses in their favorite temple on 
the banks of the Ilissus. The Latin conquerors respectfully listened to the instruc- 
tions of their subjects and captives; the names of Cicero and Horace Avere enrolled 
in the schools of Athens; and after the settlement of the Roman empire, the natives 
of Italy, of Africa, and of Britain, conversed together in the groves of the academy, 
with their fellow-students of the east. 

"In the suburbs of the city, the academy of the Platonists, the lyceum of the 
Peripatetics, the portico of the Stoics, and the garden of the Epicureans, were 
planted with trees and decorated with statues ; and the philosophers, instead of 
being immured in a cloister, delivered their instructions in spacious and pleasant 
walks, which, at diff"erent hours, were consecrated to the exercises of the mind and 
body. The genius of the founders still lived in those venerable seats; the ambition 
of succeeding to the masters of human reason excited a generous emulation ; and 
the merits of the candidates were determined on each vacancy by the free votes of 
an enlightened people. The Athenian professors were paid by their disciples, 
according to their mutual wants and abilities, the price appears to have varied from 
a mina to a talent ; and Isocrates himself, who derides the avarice of the Sophists, 
required, in his school of rhetoric, about thirty pounds from each of his hundred pu- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



325 




326 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

pils. The wages of industry are just and honorable; yet the same Isocrates shed 
tears at the first receipt of a stipend. The Stoic might blush when he was hired 
to preach the contempt of money ; and I should be sorry to discover thai Aristotle 
or Plato so far degenerated from the example of Socrates as to exchange knowledge 
for gold. But some property of lands and houses was settled, by the permission of 
the laws, and the legacies of deceased friends, on the philosophic chairs of Athens. 
Epicurus bequeathed to his disciples the gardens which he had purchased for eighty 
minse, or two hundred and fifty pounds, with a fund sufficient for their frugal sub- 
sistence and monthly festivals ; and the patrimony of Plato afforded an annual rent, 
which in eight centuries was gradually increased from three to one thousand pieces 
of gold." • 

In thesameroomisa painting, the upper part of which represents the three virtues 
which accompany Justice — Prudence, Temperance, and Fortitude. The lower part 
represents, on the left, Justinian giving the Digests to Trebonian ; and on the right, 
Gregory IX., under the figure of Julius II., presenting his Decretal to an advocate. 
Opposite to the school of Athens is a painting, called Theology, which represents 
the dispute relative to the holy sacrament, and was colored by Raphael, The com- 
position of the lower part of this picture, and especially the group of St. Augustine 
dictating to a youth, is extremely admired ; but the upper part, namely, the blessed 
Trinity, the Madonna, and St. John the Baptist, is said to be too much in the Gothic 
style. The heads of St. Gregorio, St. Ambrosio, St. Augustine, St. Domenico, St. 
Bonaventura, and St. Jerome, are deemed particularly fine. Raphael has repre- 
sented the first four as fathers of the church, seated on each side of an altar, upon 
which the host is exposed. The place of assembly represents the foundations of a 
church, with part of the superstructure begun. Directly under this picture, Raphael 
has pictured an allegory of poesy. The fourth picture in this room was colored by 
Raphael, and represents Parnassus. Homer is pictured standing at the summit of 
the mountain as an improvisatore, whom Apollo accompanies on the violin ; Dante is 
placed at the right hand of Homer, and Virgil on the left ; the Muses surround 
Apollo, and the lower regions of the mountain contain groups of celebrated Greek, 
Latin, and Italian poets. Sappho sits in the foreground, holding a scroll with one 
hand, and a lyre with the other ; and apparently listening to Laura, who stands with 
Petrarch behind a tree. On the opposite side of the mountain, and next to one of 
the Muses, whose back is toward the spectator, stand Tibullus, and next to him Boc- 
caccio ; lower down, with a medallion round his neck, is Ovid ; and immediately 
behind him, Sannazaro ; while lower still stands Horace, in an attitude -of admira- 
tion, listening to Pindar, who, like Sappho, is seated. R.aphael has placed himself 
in the group with Homer and Virgil. 

In the fourth room is a painting, which represents the victory gained by Leo IV. 
over the Saracens, at Ostia ; it is finely executed. In this room, likewise, is one of 
Raphael's most celebrated works, finished by himself, and representing the fire in 
Borgo San Spirito, near the Vatican, which happened during the pontificate of Leo 
IV. The tumult and high wind raised by the fire are wonderfully expressed ; and 
the young man carrying his father, the figure sliding down a wall, and the woman 
carrying water on her head, are particularly admired. In the foreground is another 
woman, quite frantic, who raises her hands toward Leo IV., who appears in a trib- 
une, below which is a fine group of people invoking his assistance. The third pic- 
ture in this room represents the coronation of Charlemagne by Leo III. The com- 
position is said to be confused, but the young man in armor, in the foreground, is 
much admired. The fourth picture represents Leo III., swearing, before Charle- 
magne, upon the gospels, that he was not guilty of the crimes laid to his charge by 
the party who wished to depose him. The composition of this picture is admired, 
as are several of the heads. 

The surbases of these rooms are finely painted in chiaro-scuro, by Polidoro di Car- 
avaggio, and retouched by Carlo Maratta. 

The Loggie of Raphael were commenced by Bramante, under Julius II., and fin- 
ished under Leo X. by Raphael, who covered the interior walls with paintings and 
ornaments on his own designs, and directed their execution. 

The arabesques of the first and the allegorical pieces of the third story were 
painted by Gio. d'Udine. On the second story, composed of thirteen arcades, 
Raphael has represented fifiy-two scenes of the old and new testaments, executed 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 327 

partly by himself, and partly by Julio Romano, Pierin del Vaga, and others, on his 
designs, and under his direction. 

. These paintings suflfered much in 1527, when Rome was taken by the troops of 
Charles V., but though the coloring has faded, they are still much admired for their 
designs and composition. 

The rooms on the first story, adjoining the museum, called the Borgia rooms, c&n. 
tain frescoes by Giovanni d'Udine, Pierin del V.aga, and Pinturicchio. The martyr- 
dom of St. Sebastian, the visitation of the blessed Virgin, St. Catherine in presence 
of Maximian, and others, are by Pinturicchio, who also painted the subjects of the 
fourth room, relative to the arts, sciences, and virtues. 

The famous antique painting found on the Esquiline in 1606, and called Nozze 
Aldobrandini, is supposed to represent the marriage of Peleus and Thetis ; the nymph 
of an inferior style, was discovered near the Via Nomentana, in 1810 ; the portraits 
of five of the most notorious women of the heroic times, Pasiphse, Scylla, Phedra, 
Myrrha, and Canace, near the St. Sebastian gate, in 1828. 

Gallery of Inscriptions. — The reunion and arrangement of this collection is due 
to Pius VII. On the right side are pagan, and on the left Christian inscriptions, 
found generally in the catacombs. 

The former relate to the gods and sacred ministers, to the emperors, magistrates, 
soldiers, employments, trades, and funerals. The other antique monuments are sar- 
cophagi, funeral altars, cinerary urns. Among the monuments are a marble niche 
with emblems of Neptune, found at Todi, discovered in the praetorian camp, and dedi- 
cated to the genius of the centuria under the consuls Burrhusand Commodus, in 181 ; 
the monument of Lucius Atimetus, remarkable for its bas-reliefs of a cutler's shop ; 
the well, consecrated by Cerellius to Ceres and the Nymphs ; and several represen- 
tations of the Mithriac worship. 

The Christian inscriptions are interesting, from the symbols of the vine, the fish, 
the ark of Noah, the dove, the anchor, the rites and sepulchral forms, the chronology 
of consuls in the fourth and fifth centuries. The faults of orthography and doubtful 
pronunciation of several letters indicate the corruption of the Latin language in 
those times. 

The Library. — This surpasses the other libraries of Italy by the number of its 
Greek, Latin, Italian, and oriental manuscripts, and its collection of editions of the 
fifteenth century. It was commenced at the Lateran by Pope St. Hilary, increased 
by Nicholas V., and placed in its present position by Sixtus V. 

Over the case containing the books and manuscripts, are frescoes by sundry artists, 
and Etruscan vases : on one of the finest is represented the apotheosis of Triptole- 
mus, on another Achilles and Ajax playing at dice. 

In the long galleries are the manuscripts and books of the libraries of the elector 
palatine, of the dukes of Urbino, of Queen Christina, of the Capponi and Ottoboni, 
successively united to that of the Vatican. 

The third hall of the gallery to the left contains two statues : one of St. Hippolitus, 
on whose seat is the celebrated paschal calendar ; the other represents Aristides of 
Smyrna, a Greek sophist. Near these statues is a collection of utensils, paintings, 
and other objects used by the early Christians ; and the cabinet containing charts, 
written on papyrus, of the sixth century. Adjoining this gallery is that of ancient 
and modern engravings collected by Pius VI., and at the end of the gallery that of 
cameos and antiquities. in bronze. 

Hemycide of the Belvidere. — Pius VII. united in these rooms numerous Egyp- 
tian monuments, and casts from the Parthenon, presented by George IV., king of 
England. 

The semicircular gallery contains the Egyptian monuments purchased by Pius 
VII. Ten statues of black granite, each with the head of a lioness, represent 
" Athor," the Venus of the Greeks; in the centre of the curve is a mummy in its 
case between two cynocephali, sculptured in sandstone. Around the walls are hie- 
roglyphics and epitaphs, one of which dates from the year 1602 of the Christian 
era. Under the opposite windows, and ranged in closets, are small statues of bronze, 
wood, and stone utensils of all sorts used in ancient Egypt, and several mummies of 
sacred animals. All these objects were found, in latter times, in the ruins of Thebes, 
and in the tombs of Gournah, on the left bank of the Nile. 

The late pontiff", Gregory XVI., ordered the reunion in these chambers of all the 
Egyptian monuments existing in the public museums of Rome. 



328 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



Museo Pio Clementirio. — This immense museum was formed hy Popes Clement 
XIII. and XIV., but particularly by Pius VI., who added numerous monuments and 
the hall of animals, a part of the gallery, the hall of the Muses, the round hall, that 
in the form of a Greek cross, that of the Biga, and the grand staircase. From its 
architecture and decorations it may be considered as one of the most splendid of 
modern .Rome. 

The Square Porch. — In the centre' is the celebrated torso of the Belvidere found 
in the thermae of Caracalk. It is known, from the Greek inscription at the base, 
that this fragment, belonging to a statue of Hercules, is the work of ApoUonius, son 
of Nestor the Athenian. 

Of the other monuments in this room the most celebrated are those found in the 
tomb of the Scipios. Several very ancient inscriptions line the walls : that on the 
sarcophagus shows that it was the tomb of Scipio Barbatus, consul in the year of 
Rome 460. ' The bust crowned with laurel, placed on the tomb, was probably the 
portrait of one of the Scipios. 

In the round hall are fragments of male and female figures finely draped, and on 
the balcony an ancient clock, on which are marked the cardinal points, and the 
names of the winds, in Greek and Latin. 

The Portico of the Courts— Tins portico, which contains the most celebrated 
monuments of ancient art, is supported by sixteen granite columns and several 
pilasters. 

The first cabinet contains ancient statues of Mercury and Pallas, and the boxers 
and Perseus of Canova. 

The second cabinet contains the Mercury known under the name of Antinous, 
found on the Esquiline. On the walls are bas-reliefs of Achilles, who has just killed 
Penthesilea, and an Isiac procession. 

The third cabinet contains the group of Laocoon, found under Julius II., in the 
baths of Titus, and of which we have already spoken. The bas-reliefs represent a 
Bacchanalian festival and the triumph of Bacchus after his Indian expedition. 

The last cabinet is that of the Belvidere Apollo, considered to be the most perfect 
work of sculpture. 

The Apollo was found at Antium, now Anzio, which was the birthplace of Nero, 
and one of his favorite places of residence. As in the case of the Laocoon, this statue 
was for some time supposed to be a work belonging to what we are accustomed to 
call the best age of Greek sculpture, by which, as we have already explained, we 




Kead of Nero, from a Bust in the A'atican. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



329 




The Apollo Belvidere. 



330 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

generally understand the period of Phidias and that immediately following it. In- 
deed, the Apollo is now sometimes called the work of Phidias, just as if there were 
some good reason for giving it that name. And here it may be well to put our read- 
ers on their guard against giving credit to the loose assertions of most writers as to 
matters of antiquity: very few have either time, inclination, or sufficient knowledge, 
to investigate them completely. When, then, an assertion is made, such as that 
" the Apollo Belvidere is the work of Phidias," it is quite fair to ask for the proof; 
and perhaps this will apply equally well to other assertions about things of more 
importance ihan the paternity of a statue. 

Some FrencJi critics first observed the fact of the Apollo being made of Carrara 
marble, which Pliny speaks of as being newly worked in his time, under the name 
of marble of Luna. If this is undisputed, we can not assign the Apollo to any other 
epoch but that of the early Roman emperors, and it seems the most probable hypoth- 
esis that it was made for Nero to adorn his sea-villa at Antium. This man, whom 
history has represented to us as a cruel tyrant, an unnatural son, and the murderer 
of his wife, was still a lover of the arts, and perhaps no mean judge of them, as far 
as we can discern through that cloud of abuse in which the history of the early em- 
perors is enveloped. The noble figure of the Apollo, perhaps one of the last efi'orts 
of Grecian art to perfect the ideal form of the archer-god, stood at Nero's bidding in 
all its beauty before the master of the Roman world. And can we doubt that he 
felt and admired that perfection which never yet was imbodied in a living form ? 
To attempt to express by words the impressions which are produced by the highest 
productions of nature or art, is a vain attempt : with those who do not feel, it results 
in mere words that have no definite meaning ; with those who do, it can only result 
in a complete conviction of the inability of words to express the images of thought. 
No such difficulty would be felt in treating of the Venus de' Medici, a statue which 
•is beautiful, and, for what we know, faultless in execution, but as far removed from 
the ideal form of the goddess of Love, as the most ordinary female figure thlit we 
meet with. 

It is Thiersch's opinion that the figure of the Apollo has a reference to the story 
of the god shooting with his arrows the great serpent Python ; and that the artist had 
at the same time in his thoughts the passage of the first book of the Iliad, where 
Apollo descends in anger from the heights of Olympus, with his bow and quiver on 
his shoulder, hastening to deal forth death amid the army of the Greeks. But the 
story of the Python, and a passage in Homer's " Hymn to Apollo," seem to have 
suggested the ideas which the artist has imbodied in this noble form. 

" Apollo's bow unerring sped the dait, 
And the fierce monster groaned beneath the smart. 
Tortured with pain, hard breathing, on the ground 
The serpent \vrithed beneath the fatal wound. 
Now here, now there, he winds amid the -wood. 
And vomits forth his life in streams of blood. 
' Rot where thou liest,' the exulting archer said, 
' No more shall man thy vengeful fury dread, 
But every hand that tills earth's spacious fieldj 
Her grateful offerings to my shrine shall yield. 
Not Typho's strength, nor fell Chimaera's breath, 
Can now protect thee from the grasp of death. 
There on the damp, black earth, in foul decay, 
Rot, rot to dust, beneath the sun's bright ray.' " 

" These words," says Thiersch, " seem to hang on the lips of the mdignant god. 
Already has he turned himself from the left side, in which direction the arrow has 
sped, and is moving off toward the right, while his head is still directed toward his 
vanquished enemy on the left, to whom, while in his flight and uttering the words 
of vengeance, he gives a last look of indignation and contempt." 

The bas-reliefs on the wall of the portico allude to a chase and to Pasiphae. 

Near the first cabinet is a sarcophagus, with an inscription staling that it belonged 
to Marcellus, the father of Heliogabalus ; another with figures of fauns and priest- 
esses of Bacchus. 

On the sarcophagi, near the second cabinet, are represented prisoners imploring 
the clemency of the conqueror, and Bacchus visiting Ariadne in the isle of Naxos. 

On those placed near the third, nereids are carrying the arms of Achilles, and the 
Athenians are engaged in battle with the Amazons. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



331 



Near the fourth cabinet are bas-reliefs of Hercules and Bacchus, with their attri- 
butes, Augustus commencing a sacrifice, and Rome accompanying a victorious em- 
peror. 

The Hall of Busts. — The most esteemed busts in this collection are those of Do- 
mitia, Galba, Mammgea, Lysimachus, Ariadne, Men elaus, Valerian, Pertinax, Agrip- 
pa, Caracalla, and Antinous and Serapis in basalt. 

A niche is occupied by the colossal statue of Jupiter, at whose feet is the eagle 
grasping the sceptre and thunderbolt. On the other side of the hall are busts cf 
Trajan and Antoninus Pius, of Sabina, Brutus, Aristophanes, and Marcus Aurelius ; 
a semi-figure of Apollo; a statue of Livia ; and, on a sole block of marble, two por- 
traits, said to represent Cato and Portia. 




Head of Antoninus, from a Bust in the Vatican. 

The Cabinet. — Under Pius VI., De Angelis painted on the centre of the ceiling 
the marriage of Bacchus and Ariadne; and, in the four angles, Paris offering the 
apple to Venus, Diana and Endymion, Venus and Adonis, Pallas and Paris. On the 
frieze are represented antique festoons and children. The bas-reliefs allude to the 
labors of Hercules. The statues of Minerva, Ganymede, Adonis, .of one of the Hours, 
of Venus and Diana, are ancient works of fine composition. 

Under the niches are four porphyry benches resting on bronze supporters. The 
pavement, an ancient mosaic of the finest execution, was found in the Villa Adri- 
ana. A festoon of sundry fruits and leaves, tied with ribands, forms a circular border 
round a compartment of white mosaic enclosing three figures of masks, and a land- 
scape with goats and shepherds. 

In the passage leading to the gallery is the statue of a dancing faun, and near a 
small Diana a bas-relief of three conquerors in athletic games. Under the window 
is the celebrated alabaster vase found in the mausoleum of Augustus — supposed, from 
the inscriptions that lay near it, and now preserved in the gallery, to have contained 
the ashes of Livilla, the daughter of Germanicus. 

The Hall of the Muse. — This hall is decorated with sixteen columns of Carrara 
marble, with antique capitals from the Villa Adriana. 

The statues representing the Muses were found, with the hermes of the sages of 
Greece, in the villa of Cassius at Tivoli. They are — Melpomene, crowned with 
vine-leaves, and holding the mask and sword ; Thalia, with the tabor and comic 



332 • SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

mask; Urania, the celestial globe; Calliope ; Polymnia, the muse of pantomime, 
with her hands folded in her drapery ; Erato, with her lyre ; Clio, the muse of his- 
tory ; Terpsichore and Euterpe. Near the statue of Silenus are a bas-relief of the 
dance of the Corybanles, the hermes of Sophocles, Euripides, Eschines, Demosthenes, 
and Antisthenes, the first portrait known of this founder of the cynic sect. 

The veiled hermes of Aspasia is placed near the bust of Pericles : both have Greek 
inscriptions. The remaining principal busts of this hall are those of Solon, Perian- 
dSr, Alcibiades, Socrates, Aratus, and Euripedes. 

The marble pavement, inlaid with sundry mosaic figures of comic and tragic ac- 
tors, was found at Lorium (Castel di Guido), twelve miles from Rome. The fres- 
coes, by Conca, allude to the subjects united in this room. 

The Hall of the Biga. — In the centre of this hall is an ancient marble biga finely 
sculptured. In the niches,are statues of Perseus ; of Alcibiades ; a richly-draped fe- 
male figure performing a sacrifice ; of Apollo holding the lyre ; of Phocion ; a Dios- 
cobolus, copied from Myron ; of Apollonius, a Greek philosopher of the second cen- 
tury, and of Apollo Sauroc tonus, or destroyer of the lizard. 

Of the sarcophagi placed at the foot of each niche, one represents the genius and 
the attributes of the muses, and three the games of the circus. 

The Museo Gregoriano. — This museum was formed by the late pope, Gregory 
XVI., to contain the numerous monuments of art found of late years in the ancient 
cities of Yulci, Tarquinii, Cere, Toscanella, and in other spots scattered over that 
part of ancient Elruria which extends from the Tiber to the river Flora. To these 
monuments have been added those of ancient Egypt, which were hitherto in the 
capitol or in other public museums. 

In the first vestibule are three reclining figures, two male and one female, origi-' 
nally placed over tombs, which are remarkable for the ornaments with which they 
are adorned. 

The horses' heads, of a good style of sculpture, were found over a sepulchral door 
at Vulci. 

Several cinerary urns, made of alabaster of Volterra, and votive ofi'erings, were 
discovered at Cere. 

The adjoining room contains a large sarcophagus, on which are represented the 
funeral rites o^the Etruscans, and urns found at Castel Gandolfo, of a style similar 
to those of Etruria. 

The works in terra cotta are united in the hall of Mercury, so called from the 
highly-finished statue of that god found at Tivoli. 

The following room contains the vases with black figures on a yellow ground, of 
the most ancient style ; the vase of Bacchus, particularly admired for its execution : 
the figures are not mere outlines, but painted, the different colors imitating the flesh, 
the vestments, and accessories. The subject represents Mercury consigning to Sile- 
nus the infant Bacchus ; three nymphs, emblematic of the seasons, which formerly 
were three in number, are celebra-ling with their songs the birth of the son of Jove. 

The chamber of Apollo is so called from the vase, in high preservation, represent- 
ing Apollo seated on the tripod, singing to the sound of the lyre. This urn is per- 
fect, both for its composition and its workmanship ; it is placed in the midst of several 
others which are highly interesting. 

In the hall of the bronzes is the military statue discovered at Todi, a monument 
unrivalled as offering a type of the national art, the celebrity of which is increased 
by the epigraphs engraved on it, to which various interpretations have been given. 
In this room are domestic utensils, diff*ering in form, style, and size ; chandeliers used 
also in the sacred rites, the tripod and casket, beautiful bronzes found at Vulci, mili- 
tary weapons at Bomarzo, fragments of figures larger than life at Chiusi ; the colos- 
sal arm in the port of Civitavecchia ; the Etruscan car, so singular for its ornaments 
and style, and the chest engraved with athletic combats, are worthy of observation ; 
the walls and tables are covfered with mirrors and inscriptions, useful in advancing 
the knowledge of the Etruscan language. In two closets are deposited a great num- 
ber of small utensils, light fragments, and vases : the large vessels, utensils, and arms 
on the walls, and the mask used in scenic representations and crowned with ivy, are 
finely executed. 

The works in gold are beautiful and elegant, whether we consider the invention, 
the form, or their state of preservation. The ornaments of men are the distinctive 
signs of dignities. The premiums of victory, the gifts of athletic combats, the civic 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 333 

and triumphal crowns of ivy and myrtle, the gold works cut with the chisel, not only 
manifest the taste of the artists, but convey an idea of the scientific knowledge of the 
nation. From all these objects, an idea may be formed of the riches, the flourishing 
state, and the degree of splendor, attained by the Etruscans, when objects of such 
value were buried with the owners. 

A passage, the walls of which are lined -^ith Etruscan inscriptions, leads to a large 
room, round which are copies perfectly resembling the original paintings existing on 
the tombs of Vulci and Tarquinii, monuments of the highest importance in the his- 
tory of national art, as they represent the public games and banquets which took 
place at the funerals of illustrious individuals. The vases and sculptures of this room 
are marked with Etruscan inscriptions. 

Near the passage to the cinerary urns of alabaster of Volterra is an imitation of a 
small Etruscan cemetery, and a tomb brought from Vulci, the door of which is 
guarded by two lions placed as in their original position. In the interior are dis- 
posed the funeral beds and vases which are usually found in these tombs. 

The Gallery. — This is filled with cups of the most delicate workmanship that has 
come down to us from the ancient schools. Of the various and beautiful shapes, the 
design is generally of the lightest character; the artists, pleased no doubt with the 
elegance of their compositions, have frequently inscribed their names on the vases, 
with short and witty jests expressive of joy and happiness, invitations to drink, to 
pass life merrily — expressions which may appear to be discordant with the figures 
represented, but for which there exists a reason which it is not always easy to pene- 
trate, as they afford a field for extensive research. These arguments may be partic- 
ularly applied to the archeology of the fine series of Argonautic vases found in the 
necropolis of Agilla, and in that of Cere, which are united in this museum. 

This celebrated maritime expedition of the heroic ages was hitherto considered as 
having afforded a subject of fiction among the Greek and Latin poets, nor did any 
monuments exist in support of their assertions ; but in this collection is an ample 
development of the Thessalian story„which gives a new, a better, and a diflferent, 
idea of that celebrated event. On one of the vases, the principal chiefs who partook 
of the dangers and glory of the enterprise are preparing for their departure, and put- 
ting on their armor ; the attendants, obliged to serve and follow their lords, prepare 
the shields, each of which is distinguished by an emblem — on one a lion, on another 
a bull, on others a throne or a branch full of leaves. Not only does this vase prove 
the antiquity of heraldry, but the mantles worn by the personages show their degrees 
of rank, and the same ornaments that cover the mantle of the chief appear on those 
of his attendant. 

On other vases are represented the calamities which befell the royal house of JEson 
and Pelias; the lamentations of Lemnos and the vengeance of Medea are expressed 
in a manner differing altogether from the accounts of the Greek and Latin stage, or 
from the epic poetry of those nations : the hand of these ancient artists was guided 
by narrations now lost, as appears on a vase placed in the centre of those described, 
on which the final catastrophe of the conquest of the golden fleece is expressed in a 
mode hitherto unknown: Jason, when nearly devoured by the dragon, is drawn out 
of his jaws by Minerva ; the name, written in clear purple letters near the figure of 
the chief, leaves no doubt on the subject. 

After the Argonautic vases, come those which represent the deeds of Hercules and 
the mysteries of Dionysius, forming a series of subjects difficult to explain, the tradi- 
tions and opinions of the learned being frequently at variance. 

A design of the utmost perfection and purity of style, with an expression suited to 
the subject, is that of Oedipus in his travelling-dress, deeply meditating on the enigma 
proposed by the sphinx, who appears on the summit of a rock, in those mixed fan- 
tastic forms of a lion and a young female, under which she is represented in the 
monuments of art. On another vase the artist, without regarding the design, ridi- 
culed the subject, by representing a man with an enormous head in the same pensive 
attitude as CEdipus, and a monkey in lieu of the sphinx. 

The vases relative to the ancient systems of Theogony, to the Homeric descrip- 
tions, to the public games, banquets, and other usages of those times, open a wide 
field for research, whether we consider the beauty and excellence of the design, 
which in the gymnastic scenes often reach perfection, or the light thgy throw on the 
classic authors and other monuments of antiquity. 

In one of the closets are vases of a smaller size, but highly interesting, from the 



334 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

variety of their forms and caprice of invention, particularly in those used for drink- 
ing: some have the form of a ram, others of the humble animal that carried Silenus, 
the face of an Ethiopian and of Silenus, who expresses joy on receiving the gifts of 
his disciple. This closet also contains bowls and vases of various forms, of the most 
finished workmanship. 

The Egyptian Museum. — Several statues and colossal figures, contemporaneous 
with their prototypes, are united in this museum. The colossus of Queen Twea, the 
small statue of Menephtah 'I. seated on a throne, and the fragment of the throne of 
Rhamses III., are of the period of the dynasty that reigned between the years 1822 
and 1474 before the Christian era. Without entering into a detail of all the monu- 
ments representing the human fbrm, animals, vases, or other objects, we shall arrest 
our attention on the most remarkable. The two lions next to the colossus of Twea, 
though the last of the works executed under the Pharaohs which are known to us, 
bear testimony to the talent of the Egyptian sculptors, even at the decline of that 
empire. 

The torso of King Nectanebo, placed in the hall of lions, is not less worthy of at- 
tention for the beauty of its form ; nor can we avoid noticing another torso in the 
same hall, representing one of the ministers of state. It is executed in alabaster of 
Gournah. 

Continuing our review of this museum, we shall find a new though indirect proof 
of the errors hitherto committed in judging of Egyptian art when it represented the 
human form. In the large hall contiguous to that of the lions, fitted up in the Egyp- 
tian style, are the monuments of imitation, or those produced in Rome in the Egyp- 
tian manner, at the period of the emperors, tlie greater part of which were found at 
the Villa Adriana near Tivoli. To an imitation of the works executed under the 
Pharaohs, and without attempting to correct the original taste prevailing during so 
many centuries in Egypt, these artists added the softness and finish which distin- 
guished the Greek school at Rome. An example is observed in the Antinous, a 
statue placed in this hall, which, from the beauty of its form, has been named by 
artists the Egyptian Apollo. If imitation has produced a work of such merit, how 
can we doubt of the perfection which sculpture had attained in Egypt? Not that all 
Egyptian statues could serve as models, but several dispersed throughout Europe are 
equal in beauty to the Antinous. The works of imitation representing animals are 
less useful in judging of Egyptian art. In comparing the works of the Egyptian and 
Roman artist, if the former is not superior, he certainly is not inferior : as the Egyp- 
tian, in the representation of animals, always possessed the greatest degree of skill, 
as is evidently proved by the lions of King Nectanebo, and by the prodigious quantity 
of volatiles, quadrupeds, reptiles, and scaraboei, abounding in this museum, whose 
resemblance to nature is so perfect, that they might serve for the study of naturalists. 

Architecture, — In order to complete the Egyptian collection of the Vatican of 
works of art in its primitive state, the only monuments wanting were those of archi- 
tecture. The works preserved till the present day in Egypt attest the boldness of 
imagination and power of execution shown by that nation in this art, and excite a 
sentiment of regret in those who have not had an opportunity of observing the mon- 
uments spread along the banks of the Nile. 

The Vatican museum possesses a small but valuable remnant of this nature; a 
capital from Thebes of the second order of architecture, formed of sandstone, in the 
shape of an expanded lotus ; that it is genuine, is attested by the vestiges of yellow 
color which originally covered it, as it was ciistomary among the Egyptians to paint 
those species of stone which did not admit of polish. This small remnant placed in 
the gallery of mummies may be found useful in comparing the Greek style with the 
original Egyptian. 

We shall not dwell on the various productions of the mechanical arts abounding 
in this collection — on the fabrication of papyri, the weaving of cotton in the ban- 
dages of mummies, nor on the admirable art of preserving for thousands of years the 
remains of the mortal frame, on the sandals varying in shape, or the works in bronze 
and sycamore-wood, on which are represented figures of the gods or of embalmed 
bodies, cases containing animals reduced to mummies, and those in which writings 
have been deposited : one in the gallery of mummies is particularly interesting, as it 
represents oh its four sides hieroglyphic inscriptions relative to the four genii, the 
companions and* assistants of Osiris in the regions below, who appear in their re- 
spective characters. In this collection are numerous small vessels of various sub- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE. -ITALY 



335 




• Egyptian Columns. 

Stances, containing the ointment used in painting the eyelids ; others were destined 
to preserve balsam or perfume. 

Such is the valuable collection of monuments bearing testimony to the knowledge 
of the Egyptians — of that knowledge which Moses, having imbibed, became power- 
ful in acts and words. Such are the resources laid open to the learned in this mu- 
seum by order of the late pontiff, G-regory XVI., and due to his incessant zeal to 
promote the interests of religion. Here the theologian will find the vestiges of the 
primitive traditions which preceded the revelation written by Moses and the proph- 
ets ; here sacred philology derives information for the explanation of oriental biblical 
texts. How many points of contact exist between the customs of the two nations — 
the people of God and that of Egypt — whose history is so closely connected ! What 
a new light is shed on a multitude of Hebrew idioms and forms of language arising 
from the similarity of a great number of scriptural phrases with the forms of the 
ancient Egyptian language preserved in the hieroglyphic inscriptions ! 

To the student of Sacred "Writ, it will be gratifying to see the portrait of Ptolemy 
Philadelphus, under whose auspices (and doubtless providentially) was undertaken 
the version of the Scriptures from Hebrew into Greek, called the Septuagint. The 
civilized nations of that time were thus enabled to read the sacred code, and prepared 
to receive the first glimmerings of the doctrines of the unity of God and of the re- 
demption which was approaching. The statues of Ptolemy and Arsinoe are placed 
near that part of the library which contains the celebrated manuscript of this inesti- 
mable versiori. In the Egyptian monuments collected in this museum a distinct 
history is traced of sculpture and architecture. 




336 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



CHAPTER XIIL— ITALY. 

Although we have devoted considerable space to the magnificent church of St. 
Peter's, at Rome, still we can not proceed without briefly noticing a few of the other 
churches which contribute so much to the splendor of the world-renowned city. 

The church of St. John Lateran is the first of Rome and of the catholic world. 
From Constantine, it is called the Constantinian ; from the spot on which it is built, 
the Lateran ; and, having been dedicated in the seventh century to St. John Baptist 
and to the Evangelist, it is also called the basilic of St. John. 

The primitive temple lasted ten centuries, and, together with the palace, was de- 
stroyed by fire, but was rebuilt under Clement V., Pius IV., and Sixtus V., who added 
the portico. Clement XII. raised the grand front, and decorated it with four large 
columns and six pilasters, to support the entablature, over which is a balustrade 
with ten colossal statues of saints and that of our Savior in the middle. Five doors 
lead into the church : the one walled up is called Santa, being opened only in the 
year of the jubilee. 

The interior is divided into five naves ; in the middle one are the statues of the 
twelve apostles. The Corsini chapel, built by Clement XII., in honor of St. Andrew 
Corsini, one of his ancestors, is one of the most magnificent in Rome. Over the altar 
between two columns of verde antico, is a mosaic, representing that saint, copied 
from Guido : on the pediment are the figures of Innocence and Patience ; in the bas- 
relief, St. Andrew is seen defending the Florentine army at the battle of Anghieri. 
In the large niche, decorated with two porphyry columns, is the mausoleum of 
Clement XII. It is adorned with the superb antique urn of porphyry taken from the 
portico of the Pantheon, and the bronze statue of this pontiff" by Maini, who also exe- 
cuted the statue of Cardinal Neri-Corsini opposite, and those of a genius and religion. 

Around the high-altar are four granite columns supporting a Gothic tabernacle, 
where, among other relics, the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul are preserved in silver 
reliquaries. 

The altar of the holy sacrament has a tabernacle ornamented with precious stones, 
placed between two angels of gilt bronze and four verde-antico columns. Those in 
bronze, supporting the entablature, are eight feet seven inches in circumference, and 
are supposed to be those formed by Augustus of the spars of the Egyptian vessels 
captured at the battle of Actium. 

In the tribune is the altar of our Savior, with mosaics. One of the precious objects 
preserved in this basilic is the table used at the last supper of Christ. Annexed to 
the church is a cloister of the twelfth century in which Urban VIII. collected several 
monuments of the middle ages. 

St. Maria Maggiore. — This church is situated on the summit of the Esquiline, 
called Cispius, uear the ancient temple of Juno Lucina ; it was built in 552, in con- 
sequence of a vision of St. Liberius and John the Patrician, which was confirmed on 
the following day by a fall of snow on the 5th of August, a miracle which gave rise 
to the festival still celebrated on that day by the church. The snow covered the 
space which the building was destined to occupy, and for this reason it was then 
called " St. Maria ad Nives," but now St. Maria Maggiore, as it is the principal 
church dedicated to the Madonna. It is one of the seven basilics of Rome, and of 
the four which gave a holy gate for the jubilee. 

In 432, Pope St. Sixtus III. enlarged this church, which was restored and enriched 
by several popes, and particularly by Benedict XIV. The front has two rows of col- 
umns, one Doric, the other Corinthian ; on the lower portico, supported by eight 
granite columns, are bas-reliefs and a statue of Philip V., king of Spain. From the 
central balcony of the upper portico the sovereign pontiff* gives his blessing to the 
people. The mosaics are by Gaddo Gaddi, a contemporary of Cimabue. The in- 
terior is composed of three naves, separated by tKirty-six Ionic marble columns taken 
from the temple of Juno. 

Tiie chapel of the Holy Sacrament, built by Sixtus V.. on the designs of Fontana, 
IS covered with marble, and decorated with paintings and Corinthian pilasters. On 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY.' 337 

the right is the tomb of Sixtus V., adorned with his statue, four verde-antico columns, 
bas-reliefs, and the statues of St. Francis and St. Anthony of Padua ; on the left is 
that of St. Pius V., whose body is preserved in a verde-antico urn, adorned with gilt 
bronze. In the middle of the chapel is the altar of the holy sacrament, with a mag- 
nificent tabernacle, supported by four angels of gilt bronze. 

The high-altar is isolated : it consists of a grand porphyry urn covered, and a mar- 
ble slab with four bronze gilt angels at the corners ; above it is a rich baldacchino, 
supported by four porphyry columns, and surmounted by six marble figures of angels. 
The mosaics of the grand arcade allude to subjects of the Old Testament and of the 
life of the Blessed Virgin. 

The sumptuous chapel of the Borghese family, erected by Paul V., on the designs 
of Flaminius Ponzio, contains several paintings and various species of marble. On 
the left is the tomb of that pontiff, on the right that of Clement VIIL, both decorated 
with statues, bas-reliefs, and columns. The statues of St. Basil, of David, of Aaron, 
and St. Bernard, are works of Cordieri. The altar of the Blessed Virgin is adorned 
with four fluted columns of oriental jasper ; the base and capitals are of gilt bronze ; 
the frieze and the pedestals of the columns are of agate. The image of the Madon- 
na, said to have been painted by St. Luke, is enriched with lapis-lazuli, and encircled 
with precious stones. The bas-relief of the entablature represents the miraculous 
fall of snow. The frescoes over the altar are by the cavalier d'Arpino, and those of 
the cupola by Civoli ; the paintings near the windows and arcades over the tombs 
are among the best compositions of Guido. 

The Mamerline Prison. — This was built under Ancus Martins, and described 
by Varro. The chamber, still existing, is covered with rectangular slabs of volcanic 
stone called reddish tuffo ; its form is that of a trapezium twenty -four feet long, eigh- 
teen wide, and thirteen high. Toward the northwest are traces of a window which 
shed here its feeble light. No trace of an ancient door being visible, it is conjectured 
that criminals were lowered into the prison through the aperture covered with an 
iron grating. The eastern front is well preserved, and on blocks of travertine are 
the names of the consuls Rufinus and Neva, who restored it. From the steps lead- 
mg to the prison, named " Scalse Gemouiee," the bodies of those put to death in the 
prison were dragged through the Forum and thrown into the Tiber from the Subli- 
cian bridge. 

These executions took place in the inferior or Tullian prison, thus named from 
Servius Tullius. It was cut in the rock, about twelve feet under the level of ancient 
Rome. We learn from history that many celebrated personages of antiquity died in' 
this prison : Jugurtha, of starvation ; Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius, and- 
other accornplices of Catiline, by strangulation; Sejanus, by order of Tiberius: and' 
Simon, son of Jonas, chief of the Jews, by that of Titus. It is supposed that, after 
having adorned the triumphal pomp, the captive chiefs were confined in the Tulliaa 
prison till sent to the places assigned as their residence. Syphax finished his days 
at Tivoli ; Perseus, king of Macedon, at Alba Fucensis. 

The celebrity of this prison is increased by the pious tradition that the apostles St. 
Peter and St. Paul were confined in it under Nero ; and a spring of water, said to^ 
liave been used at the baptism of Processus and Martinian (the keepers of the prison, 
who afterward suffered martyrdom), is still visible. 

Fountains. — Modern Rome is well supplied with that greatest of all luxuries, 
water, which, although not very good, is brought to the city partly by ancient and 
partly by modern structures. 

The abundance of the fountains at Rome strongly attracts the notice of the stran- 
ger. They diffuse a refreshing sense of coolness throughout the city, and impart 
to it one of the most agreeable forms of life and motion. Yet, as Martyn inti- 
mates, it would be a great mistake to conclude, as many have done, that Rome 
has an ample supply of good water, for the reverse is really the truth. The author 
of "Rome in the Nineteenth Century" has devoted an entire letter to the fountains 
of that city. Speaking of them generally, he says:— 

" Nothing strikes a stranger with more just admiration, on his arrival at the cap- 
ital of the world, than the immense number of fountains which pour forth their un- 
ceasing flow of waters on every side. It is a luxury, the full enjoyment of which can 
not be felt but in such a climate as this ; and those only who have known that deli- 
cious moment, when the blaze of the summer day fades at last in the golden clouds 
of evening, can understand the voluptuous delight with which, in its hushed hour of 

22 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 339 

stillness and repose, you listen to the music of their dashing murmur, and rest be- 
neath their freshness." 

We are afterward informed, however, that the fountains of Rome are generally 
deficient in that greatest of beauties, the beauty of simplicity; and in conclusion, the 
writer thus sums up his opinions concerning them : — 

" On the whole, I admire with fond admiration the fountains of Rome, not that as 
fountains I think them beautiful, but that falling water in an ample quantity must 
be beautiful in a climate like this, where its sound, even in winter, is so sweet to the 
senses. I love to repose my fancy upon the three noble cascades that are poured 
forth at the Fontana Paolina, the copious streams which burst from the rocks of the 
fountain of Trevi, and those silver fountains that throw high in air their glittering 
showers within the grand colonnade of St. Peter's. These are beautiful ; but for all 
the ugly statues of monsters and men, seahorses and dragons, prophets and lions, and 
fishes and gods, I hold them in utter abhorrence, as well as the clumsy and hideous 
buildings erected above them." 

The principal fountains ornament the several piazzas of the city. We shall only 
here specify those of Bernini. The most admired, although not the most considera- 
ble of these, is in the Piazza Barberini, and is represented in our engraving, p. 341. It 
exhibits a Triton seated upon four dolphins, and throwing up water from a large 
shell. Another of his fountains, called the Barcaccia, or boat, is in the Piazza di 
Spagna. It has been both praised and dispraised more than it deserves ; but it is 
certainly an inferior performance to that already mentioned, which is an interesting 
work, although it exhibits sufficient exemplification of that corruption which the 
taste of the artist had already undergone at the time it was executed. But the prin- 
cipal fountain of Bernini is that in the Strada Navona, the model of which won hira 
the favor of Innocent X. Opinions concerning it are quite in the extreme. Martyn 
roundly declares that it is " the most magnificent fountain in the world." Coxe, who, 
with many others, seems disposed to consider the fountain of Trevi as the principal 
of those in Rome, yet explains that, although Bernini's fountain has not so copious a 
supply of water as the other, it is "much more nobly decorated." It consists of a 
rock, having ai each angle a colossal figure, representing a principal river in each 
quarter of the world, namely, the Danube, the Nile, the Ganges, and the La Plata. 
From four caverns in the rock issue an equal number of cascades, with a copious 
flow of water, and the summit is crowned by an Egytian obelisk about fifty-five feet 
high, exclusive of the basement. 

The piazza in which this fountain is situated was anciently the Circus Agonalis, 
the form of which is still preserved, in consequence of the houses being built on the 
old foundations. It is one of the largest and finest squares in Rome. It was in an- 
cient times used for chariot-racing, boxing, and wrestling ; one of the principal mar- 
kets of the city is now held in it, particularly on Wednesdays. Every Saturday and 
Sunday in August this square is inundated with water from the fountain, that the 
people may refresh themselves by riding or walking about in it, which they do in 
great numbers. Formerly this diversion of paddling in the water used to be pro- 
tracted throughout the night, accompanied by music and refreshments; but, in con- 
sequence of the disorders which sometimes arose, the water has now for many years 
been regularly drawn off at dusk. 

Bernini, from whose designs these fountains were executed, has been called by 
some the modern Michael Angelo, because he united the knowledge and practice of 
painting, statuary, and architecture. His skill in each of these branches was very 
considerable ; but it was in the last branch that he excelled, and to which he is 
chiefly indebted for his reputation. He was born at Naples, in 1598, and from his 
earliest years manifested a great capacity for the fine arts, having at the age of eight 
years executed a head in marble, which, under such circumstances, was considered 
a most extraordinary performance. His Apollo and Daphne, executed at the age of 
eighteen, raised just expectation that he would rival the best productions of ancient 
G reece. This expectation was not fulfilled. At this time his style was in its purest 
state, and had less of the peculiar manner which it afterward acquired. It is said 
that, when the artist surveyed this group in his old age, he allowed that he had 
really made very little progress since the period at which it was executed. Late ia 
life, he confessed that, in endeavoring to remove from his mind the restraint of rules, 
and all imitation of the antique and of nature, he fell into a faulty manner ; that he 
mistook facility of execution for the inspiration of genius ; and that, in endeavoring^ 



340 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 341 

to heighten the expression of grace, he became affected, and encumbered beaulv with 
superfluous ornament. Before, however, he arrived at these just conclusions, the in- 
fluence of his name produced many imitators of his style ; and adequate iudo-es con- 
sider that his merit, great as it was, operated unfavorably for the advancement of 
art. Among his works about this time, it may interest our readers to know that he 
made a bust of Charles L When his reputation reached England, that kinc. was 
anxious to have his bust done by so eminent an artist, and sent him three portraits, 
by Vandyke, of himself m different positions. By this means Bernini was enablea 
to make an excellent likeness, with which the king was so delighted, that he drew 
irom his tmger a diamond ring worth six thousand crowns, and sent it to Bernini. 




Fountain of the Prince of Palestine, by Bernini. 



342 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

The interest which is aroused in visiters of the eternal city is not confined to he. 
antiquities or her modern works of art : the streets present many an animated pic- 
ture calculated to interest the passers-by. The various and fanciful costumes seen 
in her streets, the religious ceremonies which are occasionally celebrated, and the 
amusements of the Romans, all claim attention. Decidedly the most amusing cere- 
monial seen in the city is thie carnival, and of this the following description is by an 
eye-witness : — 

" The same views which led men to propitiate the higher invisible powers hy gifts, 
sacrifices, and purifications, also introduced fasts, abstinence from pleasure, and pen- 
ances. By fasts is meant an abstinence from the usual means of nourishment, in order 
to mortify the appetites, and thereby to propitiate the Deity. In every nation of 
importance, customs of this kind are found. Their historical origin is in the religious 
customs of the East, where the priests were originally the physicians of the people, 
and prescribed these fasts as a part of the regimen necessary in this warm region, as 
well as from religious views. 

" For a long time previous, preparations were going on for this famous festival ; 
masks were displayed at every shop, and masquerade-dresses of every form and 
fashion adorned the heads of the giddy throng, for many days before its commence- 
ment. On Friday, men mounted on horses, in showy costume, paraded the streets, 
with flags of gold and silver tissue, velvet, and rich silks, the involuntary donation 
of the despised Jews, who are also compelled to defray the expenses of the races. 
It is said that in former times they were compelled to race themselves, for the 
amusement of their more favored fellow-beings, but are now indulged with the 
privilege of substituting horses. 

" On Saturday, at about two o'clock, the great bell of the Capitol announced the 
commencement of the sport; the Corso was already filled with coaches, and per- 
sons on foot of every nation under the sun, but the masks were few. Some ceremo- 
nies, I understood, went on at the Capitol, which I did not witness, in which a dep- 
utation of the Jews formally petitioned the governor of the city for permission to re- 
main in it another year, which he grants, on condition of their paying the costs of 
the races, &c. The military paraded the Corso with much display, and soon after, 
the governor and senator (Rome has but one now) swept through it in a pompous 
procession of gilded coaches, decked ovij. in all the frippery of bad taste, and glit- 
ter of real gold and brass. It added, however, as much to the show as harlequins' 
many-colored jackets, or Pulcinello's long nose and pot of macaroni. These ended, 
the fun and merriment commenced ; showers of sugar-nuts (made for the purpose of 
plaster, and an apology for sugar) were exchanged by those in coaches as they 
passed — a general pelting from the windows, and those on foot, presetted a scene of 
confusion and childish gayety, that, absurd as it appeared, roused up the dullest spirit 
to the sport, and, filling my pockets, I went to work as manfully as the silliest 
among them. The windows and balconies were hung with rich draperies of scarlet 
and crimson silk and velvet, which, waving in a gentle breeze, beneath a cloudless 
sky, mingled with rich dresses, smiling, and often lovely faces, beaming with pleas- 
ure — the loud laugh, the shout of joy, and the sprightly movements of the crowd, 
combined to present a scene beyond description. The amusements of the day con- 
cluded with the race. For this purpose, part of the Piazza del Popolo (a view of 
which is seen in the engraving) was fitted up as a starting-place, and to afford places 
for those who desired to witness the most animated scene of all, when the animals 
are brought forth — a privilege that a paul procured for any one. 

" At the sound of the trumpet, fifteen or sixteen ponies made their appearance, with 
grooms at their heads, dressed in all the extravagance of finery peculiar to the Ro- 
man peasants, who with difficulty could arrange the animals against a rope stretched 
across the street. At a signal given, it dropped, and away they went like lightning, 
dashing up the Corso as if a thousand furies were at their heels. Leaden balls, sus- 
pended by strings and filled with needles, lashed their sides, and the rattle of sheets 
of tinsel, and fire-crackers, let off at the moment of starting, and the shouts of the 
crowd, as they closed in behind them, spurred them forward with the swiftness of 
the wind. They ran to the end of the street, about a mile, and were then stopped 
by a large canvass, extended across the way, with the exception of three, who did 
not seem to relish the joke, and using their heels in the wrong way, were, with diffi- 
culty secured. More than one fell, exhausted with fright and exertion ; others bolted, 
in spite of shouts and soldiers, and not half the number reached the goal. The 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



343 




344 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

races were repeated every day of the carnival, about sunset, and with little variation 
On Tuesday, there was a masquerade-ball at one of the theatres. For this pur- 
pose, the pit was covered over, and the whole establishment thrown open. One is 
not compelled to wear a mask, or go in costume. If they please, they may be mere 
lookers-on, or join in the revelry, to their heart's content, and soon, in spite of prej- 
udices, and the consciousness of its absurdity, they are drawn into the whirl. Some 
of the costumes were badly put together, made up of pasteboards, and glazed mus- 
lin, and would have done discredit to the wardrobe of a strolling mountebank ; 
many were beautiful, in good taste, and costly. There were harlequins cutting their 
odd tricks, clowns playing off their buffooneries, and columbines their witcheries ; 
the Roman emperor strutted, arm-in-arm, with the sprightly trasteverina, or stately 
Albaneza ; the long-bearded, turbaned Turk, with his face of gravity ; the fop of 
fifty years ago, and the exquisite of the present day ; the mad poet ; the quack doc- 
tor, with a remedy for every disease, in the shape of an instrument, of most unques- 
tionable form and character. There were scores of fag-end nobility, caricatured to 
perfection — in short, a little of everything that the world is made of, travestied, 
except the priesthood ; it is the only forbidden ground. 

" There were many in costume, though not in masks. The Hungarian mountain- 
girl, and the lovely young Greek, who, that night, wore their national costume, will 
long be remembered — by one, at least, upon whose arm they leaned. 

" Paul Pry was there, running his nose into every one's business. I came upon 
the busybody, sipping an ice with his satanic majesty, in a corner, who, by-the-by, 
was the best mask in the assembly — a person of exquisite form, in a suit of black, 
with red claws, toes, and horns ; a pair of wings, made of black gauze, with red 
veins running through them, and in constant motion, expanded from his shoulders, 
and a most liberal length of tail, whose forked tip he carried very gallantly over his 
arm. His distended goggle-eyes disturbed many a tete-a-tete, as he thrust himself 
between, and broke a soft sentence, or tender sentiment. He was everywhere, and 
always to play the devil. Even Brother Jonathan was among the medley, trying 
to drive a bargain. Faust and Margaret appeared for a short time. I recognised a 
young German student, that I knew, and there was a painful resemblance in the 
reality, to the character assumed that the sunny smile of his fair companion could 
not dissipate. 

" A short time previous to the carnival, some Piedmontese peasants exhibited 
through the streets of Rome a pair of dancing bears, that performed their usual 
tricks, to the great diversion of the crowd that collected arouud them. A well- 
arranged skin, transformed some way into Bruin, was led about by a chain, and 
performed the feats of his rivals to perfection, not forgetting the usual finale of 
handing about his hat, and receiving with bearish civility the coppers that he thrust 
into his huge month, which served him for a pocket. But to record half the tricks 
and frolics of the carnival at Rome, would be an endless task. At one time you 
are accosted by a smiling peasant-girl, that claims an acquaintance, and suddenly 
blinds you with the contents of a powder-puff, concealed beneath laer apron. At 
another, a tug at your button arrests your notice, and turning to see whence it 
comes, a handful is presented of all sorts, and a pair of scissors snapped in your 
face ; of course, you imagine yours among them, and feel for the extent of your loss, 
which is greeted with a shout of laughter, at your expense, or a rap across the 
knuckles from the wooden sword of a harlequin, or the present of a string of mac- 
aroni from Pulcinello, by way of consolation. 

"In such scenes passed off the carnival during eight days, from two o'clock in the 
afternoon, until midnight. On the last day, after the races, the Corso presented the 
singular appearance of thousands of lights, displayed at windows, carried in car- 
riages, and by those on foot. He is, indeed, unfortunate, that can not afford a light 
on the occasion. It is every one's business to put out his neighbor's light, and pre- 
serve his own as long as he can. It is impossible to give an idea of the effect pro- 
duced — of the confusion, and glitter, when witnessed from a commanding position. 
At last, the lights gradually disappear, and the remainder of the evening is spent at 
the theatre, or at the table, to take a farewell of its luxuries. In the morning, Rome 
presents a gloomy picture ; the city seems in mourning, for the happy faces of yes- 
terday are nowhere to be found ; there is not even a smile, that would not havq 
then passed for dejection." 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



345 




E Giuoco alia Ruzzica. 

Among the games pursued by the Romans we mention that called La Ruzzica, this 
manly, athletic, and graceful game was, and we believe still is, a very favorite 
pastime with the trasteverini, or those bold and picturesque, but somewhat rough 
and lawless fellows, who dwell beyond the Tiber, round the roots of the Vatican hill. 
The game, which is also called La Rotuola, resembles the ancient and classical sport 
of the discus, from which, as well as our game of quoits, it may descend. The 
rotuola, or that circular substance which the man in Pinelli's design is about to throw 
with such a concentration of energy, is a piece of heavy hard wood, of the shape of 
a cheese, but rather thicker in the middle than at the edges. It is as large as a 
moderate-sized cheese, and it has a slight groove running round it like the block of 
a pulley. A long string or thong is coiled as tight as possible round this disc. By 
a powerful jerk the string or throng is rapidly untwisted, and an impetus more or less 
strong, according to the strength of arm and the skill and knack of the player, is 
given to the heavy piece of wood, which, when handled to perfection, flies with 
amazing velocity and to a great distance. The length of the course is generally the 
criterion of victory, without regard being paid to any particular aim or direction ; 
but sometimes a peg is stuck in the earth (as in our game at quoits), and the thrower 
that comes nearest to the peg marks a point in the game. We have also seen the 
ruzzica played without any string or thong, the disc being thrown from the hands, 
like the wooden ball in our game of nine-pins ; but, from its size and shape, and 
superior weight, it requires the employment of both hands, and the hands are so ap- 
plied as to give it a rotatory motion. A good player will in this way hurl it to a 
great distance. The attitude and action of the trasteverino have been compared to 
those of the discobulus, or thrower of the discus; but the comparison will not strictly 
hold, as the ancient player throws with the right hand only, and the trasteverino 
invariably uses both hands. But among these dwellers in the suburb of Rome, who 
boast that they are the only true descendants of the ancient Romans, faces and forms 
may often be found as striking and as classical as those of the antique statue ; and 
this athletic game, and the strong excitement it produces in them, bring finely into 
play the muscles of the body and the animated expression of the countenance. The 
statue of the discobulus, is attributed to Myron, one of the most celebrated sculptors 
of ancient Greece, who was famed for the wonderful truth and spirit with which he 
copied nature. He flourished nearly four centuries and a half before the Christian 
era. The original statue was in bronze, and of the size of life. There were anciently 
five admirable copies in marble, but of these only three are extant. The copy pos- 
sessed by the British museum was discovered in the year 1791, in the grounds of 
Count Fede, in the part of the Emperor Hadrian's villa, Tiburtina, supposed to have 



346 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

been the pinacotheca, or picture gallery. Though dug from beneath the soil, it was 
verj'^ perfect, and had suffered little injury. It is considered as the most perfect of the 
three marble copies of Myron's great -work in bronze, the statue most celebrated 
among the master-pieces of Grecian art for its accurate display of technical skill and 
science in representing a momentary and violent action of the human body. The 
artist could have had no stationary model to assist his memory, for the figure is repre- 
sented in action at the precise moment of delivering or throwing the discus ; and 
that action, with the wonderful play of the limbs and body by which it is produced, 
lasts but for an instant, and can not possibly be made permanent to the eye. But 
Myron must have been an assiduous attendant at the sport, and must have watched 
the youth of Greece throwing the discus, as the artist at Rome may watch the 
trasteverini playing at la ruzzica, a difference, unfavorable to the modern painter 
or sculptor, being that these modern Romans, though scantily clad and stripping for 
the game, are yet more covered with clothes than were the ancient Greeks. 

II Giuoco alia Ruzzica, like that of la morra, is always an animated and anima- 
ting scene. Prohibitions have been more than once issued by the papal government 
against the very popular diversion, as the trasteverini were accustomed to play iu 
the streets, in the public squares, and on the high roads ; and as it sometimes hap- 
pened that legs of unwary passengers were broken or damaged by coming in contact 
with the rotuola or discus ; but the passion for the sport has been loo strong for the 
priestly government and its not very vigorous or efficient police. The players, how- 
ever, generally shun the streets and high roads, and seek some open, unfrequented, 
and uncultivated space ; and of such there is no want in the solitary neighborhood of 
the eternal city. 

The game of the morra, which is very ancient in Italy, is thus played : Two men, 
or boys (we never saw women or girls play at it), place themselves opposite to each 
other, and at the same instant of time each throws out his right hand, with so many 
fingers open and so many shut or bent upon the palm, and each of the players, also 
at the same instant of time, cries out the number made by adding his adversary's 
open fingers to his own. Thus, if A throws out three fingers and B four, and A cries 
seven, and B eight, or any other number not the true one, A marks a point in the 
game. If both cry right, then, as a matter of course, there is a tie, and the throw 
goes for nothing. This to the uninitiated may seem a very childish and a very easy 
game, but the 'difficulty of it is far greater than can well be conceived without seeing 
it played ; and success in the game does not depend upon chance, but upon superior 
quickness of sight. Each player knows the number of fingers he himself throws out, 
but he must catch at a glance the number throAvn out by his adversary, whose move- 
ments, like his own, are as quick as lightning, and as he sees he must call out the 
joint number, his adversary doing the same. 

This game is mentioned by ancient Ptoman writers under the name of "micare 
digitis," and the glittering or flashing of the finger is descriptive of its nature. The 
fingers are now open, now shut ; the hand is now in the air, and now down at the 
side ; and throw follows throw, and call follows call, as quick as the muscles can 
move or the tongue speak. The first time we saw the game played, we were amazed 
at this rapidity, and at the loud voices and excited passionate expression of the play- 
ers, who were only playing for about a pennyworth of wine. Their eyes flashed, 
and their voices sounded like the simultaneous discharge of a brace of large pistols, 
it being scarcely possible, to our unpractised eye and ear, either to see the number 
of fingers that were opened, or to distinguish by the ear who cried one number or 
who another. But two bystanders, who acted as umpires, and who were almost 
equally excited, seemed to make these distinctions very well. 

When the first game was decided, which happened in a very few seconds, the two 
fellows played another, and getting more and more inflamed, they went on throwing 
out hands and fingers, and bawling numbers, as quattro, sei, otto, cinque, nove, &c., 
until their voices were hoarse, and their arms so tired that they could no longer keep 
up the rapid movement. As a man gains a point by hitting the right number, he 
marks it with a finger of his left hand, which is kept motionless, but generally raised 
above the shoulder. Five points make the game, and when the thumb and four 
fingers of the left hand are ail expanded, then the lucky owner of that hand cuts a 
caper and sometimes cries fatto (done) ! or guadagnato (gained) ! or ho vinto (I have 
conquered) ! Not once, but many a time, have we seen the losing party, in his mad 
spite, bite the fingers of his right hand until the blood came. But this valuable ex- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



347 



tremity of the human frame is very liable to bites in the south of Italy, for not only 
do men bite their thumbs to show their contempt of their enemies, in the manner 
Shakspere has recorded in the first scene of "Romeo and Juliet," but they also bite 
and almost gnaw their fingers whenever they are exceedingly vexed and disap- 
pointed. We once heard a capuchin friar, in the mercato, or great market-place, of 
Naples, preach rather a long sermon on the evil practice of finger-biting, which he 
denounced as heathenish and Saracenic. We have said that five points make the 
game ; but we believe that morra, like whist, has its longs and shorts, and that in 
the long game ten points are needed. We have also said that the player throws 
open so many fingers of his right hand and keeps so many shut ; but he may, if he 
chooses, throw open all the fingers of his right hand, and this upon occasions he does. 
It sometimes happens that both players simultaneously throw out five fingers. 

The worst of the game of the morra is, that it frequently leads to violent quarrel- 
ing. Involuntary mistakes will happen, and at times men will try to cheat. Not- 
withstanding the marvellous quickness of their keen, black, and well-practised eyes, 
both players and umpires will now and then be at fault, and fierce disputes will arise 
about the number of glittering fingers which have been thrown. Their ears too are 
occasionally at fault, and then with equal violence they will dispute whether it was 
the voice of A or the voice of B that cried the right number. Whenever fives were 
thrown there was a greater chance of fierce disputation, for one of the players was 
very likely to say that he had not extended his thumb, but had only opened his four 
fingers ; and certainly this thumb-point, which we ourselves could never attain to, 
seemed to be of diflacult attainment to "i piu periti giuocatori," the most, experienced 
players. Although private assassination and the use of the stiletto and knife had 
happily declined in Italy, we regret to say that some twenty years ago knives were 
not unfrequenlly drawn after a disputed game at morra. On this account, attempts 
have been made at various times to put down the sport ; but in our time it flourished 
greatly and seemed indestructible. It was in vogue among the common people of 
Rome, and more especially among the trasteverini, those rough and somewhat tur- 
bulent fellows, previously spoken of, who dwell beyond the Tiber. But the great- 
est professors and most ardent followers of the game were the lazzaroni and common 
people of the city of Naples, and the neighboring towns in the Terra di Lavoro. In 
this, the sunniest part of the south, there never was fair, festa, saint's day, or other 
holyday, in which the game of the morra was not played for wine and nuts, melons, 
sweetmeats, or other refreshments, by thousands ; and at these great meetings the 




The Game of the Morra. 



348 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

air rang and re-echoed with the sharp, loud-volleyed voices of the players. The 
confusion and wildness of noise are scarcely to be imagined, except by one who has 
been at the Festa della Madonna dell' Arco, or the Festa di Pie di Grotta, or some 
other great Neapolitan festival. In loudness of voice the Neapolitans excel every 
other people in the world, and they are, perhaps, never so loud-tongued as when un- 
der the excitement of this game. If mistakes and quarrels arise when the game is 
played singly, it may well be imagined that they are more likely to occur when 
many pairs are playing close together, and flashing their fingers and shouting their 
numbers all at one time. Moreover, on those great celebrations more wine than 
usual was drunk, and iu these very excitable people even a slight intoxication by 
wine was apt to seem very near akin to madness. We forget what saint's, or what 
Madonna's day it was, when, being on our way from Psestum and Salerno to Naples, 
we rode into the town of Torre dell' Annunziata, which stands by the seashore at the 
foot of Mount Vesuvius, at a short distance from the ancient city of Pompeii. It is 
here that the best maccaroni is made; this manufacture gives employment to many 
persons, and the town of Torre dell' Annunziata was one of the most prosperous, and 
quiet, and orderly places in the kingdom. But on this glorious summer evening, as 
we rode into the town, we heard the most savage yelling, and saw a great many 
knives flashing in the air, and fellows running hither and thither, and uttering the 
most fearful exclamations. At the same time some hundreds of women screamed, 
and shrieked, and tore their hair, or bit their fingers. It looked as if Masaniello, 
that marvellous fisherman, had come back to life to make a new state revolution ; 
but we very soon ascertained, that all this hubbub and drawing of knives had origi- 
nated in some disputed games at morra. It was more owing to the screams, and 
tears, and entreaties, of the women, than to any exertion of the gendarmes, that an 
end was put to hostilities ; but this desirable event did not happen until several of 
the knives we had seen in the air had been wetted in human blood. Such was the 
tragical part of the morra. The comic part, however, was often very rich, and the 
game offered the quiet observer an excellent opportunity for studying expression and 
gesticulation. 

In the summer-time, there was no going in the evening into any street or lane of 
the lower part of the city of Naples, without hearing the shouts of fellows that were 
playing at this ancient and primitive game ; but we are told that his present Neapol- 
itan majesty has so far succeeded in his social reforms as to diminish within his cap- 
ital the amount and frequency of the sport. 

Madame de Stael and other travellers, who wrote at the beginning of the present 
century, grossly exaggerated the number of the Neapolitan lazzaroni ; yet, as late as 
the year 1827, there were certainly many hundreds of men, bearing the name of laz- 
zaroni, who had no home or habitation ; who slept pell-mell, scores together, in the 
porches of the churches ; who had scarcely any clothes beyond a coarse cotton shirt, 
a pair of tattered trowsers, a red sash round the waist, and a red woollen nightcap ; 
who gained a precarious subsistence by running of errands, or doing any chance 
work ; and who would never work at all, if they had but money enough to buy food 
for the day. We are informed by a friend, in a recent letter from Naples, that the 
last of these men have disappeared, or are fast disappearing, and that a genuine laz- 
zaro is now a very rare sight. They were once a power in the state, and had their 
capo, or head, or chief, who was elected by their own suff'rages, and officially recog- 
nised by king, church, and government. The game of the morra may have suff'ered 
through this change, although the game was far from being confined to the laz- 
zaroni. 

The canofieno, or Roman swing, is a lively representation of an animated scene 
which is very common among the trasteverini and the peasantry of the states of the 
church. The construction of this Roman swing is sufficiently shown in the engraving. 
The ropes which support the strong plank are sometimes fastened to a revolving 
axis, and sometimes merely passed over a beam or rafter. In the latter case, when 
greasing is neglected, the ropes are apt to wear away and break ; and then down 
comes the whole party with a great crash, and not without peril to legs and bodies. 
The danger, however, is the less from the comparatively slight elevation and limited 
^uay of the swing. The Romans, who have no such machine, would be alarmed at 
the swings which are used at our places of amusement. 

Such as it is, the canofieno is a very favorite amusement among the Roman peas- 
antry of all ages. We have seen three generations upon it at once — a grandfather 



■!^' 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



349 



and a grandmother, their son and their son's wife, with her children. At times we 
have seen one or two Franciscan friars or bearded capuchins seated upon the plank, 
and singing and hallooing with the rest; but this was in recondite quarters, where 
the eyes of their superiors could not reach them, and when their ceTca, or begging- 
round, had been successful, and their libations unusually copious. To fairs and rusuc 
festivals of all sorts the monks of the mendicant orders always repaired in considera-^ 
ble numbers ; for every festa is the day of some saint whom they are bound to honor, 
and they know full well that good cheer and sport in the open air quicken gerierosily, 
and that the hands as well as the hearts of the faithful are most open on a gay sum- 
mer holyday. Moreover, these begging friars spring from the common people, and 
are always men of the people. Now and then an old tabellone, or notary, or other 
sedate, starch Roman citizen, was to be seen on the plank, in his solemn suit of faded 
black, and with spectacles on nose — those antiquated, horn-rimmed spectacles, Aviih 
nothing but the bridge to keep them on the nose, and without any sides ; in shor% 
ihe spectacles that are worn by the mis^r in Quintin Messys's or Matsys's celebrated 
picture at Windsor castle, and in other paintings by the old Dutch masters. It shculd 
seem that man has a natural liking for eVery kind of swinging, except hanging. 
There was a Neapolitan doctor and theorist of the last century wbo thought, that if 
men and women would only swing enough, they might swing away all their distem- 
pers and disorders, and he wrote a book to prove it. Like other theorists, he only 
carried the matter too far. In many cases this exercise is well known to he favor- 
able to health. In cases of insanity the swing is said to have been used with good 
effect; but here the greatest advantage has been found, not from the pendular mo- 
tion, but from the rotatory motion. That great turner of lines and rhymes, Dr. Dar- 
win, first suggested the method of " spinning a madman" on a rotatory swing ; and 
a Dr. Cox caused such a swing or roundabout to be made, and tried the experiment 
in a very bad case, and with such striking success, that he attributed to it the com- 
plete recovery of his patient. Dr. Cox afterward employed the rotatory swing in 
many other cases, and found this singular remedy generally efficacious, and never 
prejudicial. Father Linguiti, in the early part of the present century, introduced the 
rotatory swing, or roundabout, or whirligig, into the great hospital for the insane 
which he organized at Aversa ; and the use of it in such places is now universal in 
Italy, where a refractory patient, instead of being beaten or subjected to other harsh 
severities, as in former times, is merely whirled or spun round on a pivot. But this 
is a matter too serious to accompany Pinelli's hilarious design. 




The Canofieno. 



350 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Reader, if you will look at the picture, you will see that one of the Roman dam- 
sels is playing on the tambourine ; and these holyday folks generally swing to music 
and loud singing. The singing, indeed, like the screaming of a bagpipe, is much 
louder and shriller than is agreeable to one of the uninitiated, unless it be heard at 
some distance. The object of every one of the vocalists, whether male or female, 
appears to be to beat all the rest in noise, and they very frequently sing through the 
nose. It has been frequently remarked, that in this land of song the taste of the pop- 
ular music is execrable. There are exceptions : in most parts there are some two 
or three beautifully simple melodies, some of which are of an unknown antiquity, 
and have never been written down with musical notes and scores, but have been 
transmitted orally from father to son through many ages ; in not a few districts the 
peasants sing prettily in parts ; still, generally speaking, the music of the laboring- 
classes from one end of Italy to the other is a twanging, loud, monotonous sing-song, 
or a droning, drowsy noise, almost as bad as that of the Andalusian muleteers, or 
that of the calesso-drivers in Malta, who are said at times to sing their beasts to 
sleep on the road, with their burdens on .their backs, or their ohaises at their tails. 
These poor rustics never. approach an opera-house ; the only theatre they know is a 
puppet-show, their only great actor is Punch. Thus their ears have never been in- 
formed by the beautiful liquid strains of Cimarosa, or Paisiello, or Rossini, and as 
their taste has not been cultivated, they seem to consider their own bad music as 
the best. But, bad as it is, it gives them pleasure, and therefore answers the end. 

Like nearly every other pastime or custom among these people, the canofieno 
bears the stamp of antiquity. The same strong plank, the same ropes, and very 
nearly the same kind of group which Pinelli drew, have been found depicted upon 
fragments of chamber-walls dug out of Herculaneum or Stabia. 

There is another primitive sport, well known to Americans by the familiar name 
of " see-saw," or " ups and downs." It was often played by the trasteverini and their 
neighbors in the townships and villages of the Roman Campania, as also in other 
parts of Italy. This too is an ancient and classical pastime, for there is a picture of 
it painted upon the wall of one of the houses of Pompeii. The most lively player at 
this game that we ever chanced to see was a roj'al lady, who, since those happy days 
of her childhood, has had see-sawings and ups and downs enough — but of a far less 
agreeable sort. This was Donna Christina, the pretty, light, and always laughing 
granddaughter of the then reigning king of Naples, old Ferdinand I., who loved all 
manner of sports, and the most boisterous the best. In the lower garden of the royal 
summer palace at Portici, which stands over part of the lava-buried Herculaneum, 
and in the lowest part of that garden, near the open space by the seashore called the 
Mortelle, where King Ferdinand in his young days made a little camp, and built a 
sort of castle, to play at soldiers and sieges, there was a playground for the king's 
numerous brood of grandchildren, which was quite open to the view of two or three 
casini, or villas, at that time occupied by Neapolitan noblemen, who had as yet pre- 
served ihe means of being sociable and hospitable. From the terrace of one of these 
houses, which reached nearly to the low wall of the royal garden, we often saw 
Donna Christina sitting on the plank and playing at see-saw with her eldest brother, 
now king of Naples, or of the Two Sicilies, with a zest and spirit which the daugh- 
ters of good Dr. Primrose could not have exceeded when playing with Farmer Flam- 
borough's family at hunt the slipper. Royal brothers and sisters of various ages, but 
all children, and healthy, happy children, stood round, clapping their hands and 
shouting without any restraint ; and loud was the laughter Avhen Don Ferdinando 
could succeed in jerking off Donna Christina, or Donna Christina perform the more 
difficult feat of unhorsing Don Ferdinando. These scenes — it is a quarter of a cen- 
tury since we saw them — have often come before our eyes in vivid colors, while 
reading in unsympathizing newspapers of the many vicissitudes and trials of that 
once light-hearted, joyous girl: of the jealous tyranny of her grim old uncle and 
husband, Ferdinand of Spain ; of the bitter thraldom of Spanish etiquette ; of her 
young and stormy widowhood, with the weight and cares of government thrown 
upon one who had never been trained to bear them, and who found herself from the 
first surrounded by fierce and desperate factions ; of her palace burst open at mid- 
night by a lawless and frantic soldiery ; of the massacres committed under her own 
eyes ; of her forced separation from her daughters, and long exile in France ; and 
of the other catastrophes which have happened in a country where revolutions have 
succeeded each other too rapidly to be recollected without the aid of book and regis- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 351 

ter. We have been told that that light, buoyant figure has become corpulent, but 
we can only figure her as she was. We have heard of irregularities, vices — and, 
considering all circumstances, we can give credit to a part of the scandalous chroni- 
cle ; but what we can not and will not believe, is the assertion that Donna Christina, 
as queen-dowager and regent of Spain, would be a heartless and sanguinary tyrant, 
if she could. God help her and her daughters! It were better for them all to be 
playing at see-saw among the acacia-groves at Portici, than to be where they are, 
and' what they are. 

We must not, however, forget to mention the amusement most prized by the com- 
mon people, viz., the Fantoccini or puppets, among whom, the world-renowned Punch 
and Judyoccupy so conspicuous a place. The box of puppets (Burattini or Fantoccini), 
or what is, or was, legitimately called a puppet-show (from the French word poupee), 
was more frequently exhibited in the cities of Italy than the magic Lantern. There 
was more life and variety in it. Some of the burattini played comedy, some tragedy, 
and scripture pieces, which last bore a close family resemblance to the old mysteries 
and moralities of the English stage. The death of Judas Iscariot was a favorite sub- 
ject ; and particular attention was paid to the hanging scene, and to the last scene 
of all, where the little devils with horns and tails came to clutch the traitor and 
apostate : — 

" Piombo queir alma a V infernal riviera, 
E si f^ gran treniuoto in quel momento." 

" Down went the sinner loaded with his crime — 
Down to deep hell ; and earthquakes marked the time." 

Even with the small box-puppets, or burattini, playing in the streets by broad day- 
light, great effects have been produced upon the populace and the peasants of the 
neighborhood ; and critics have been heard criticising the piece and the tiny puppets 
with all the gravity and acumen of Partridge in " Tom Jones," who loved a puppet- 
show " of all the pastimes upon earth." Much ingenuity was displayed by the 
ventriloquist and puppet-mover inside the curtains, who not only moved the various 
figures and spoke for his personae dramatis, but, in many cases, invented and ex- 
temporized the dialogues which were put into their mouths. But far grander than 
these perambulatory exhibitions were the plays performed within doors in Fantoccini 
theatres, or in large rooms converted, for the nonce, into theatres of that sort. In 
these puppet theatres there was a regular stage, with green baize curtain, footlights, 
and other accessories. (We were going to say scenes; but as the three unities of 
action, time, and place, were strictly adhered to, there was only one scene used for 
one play ; and as by a little stretch of the imagination this one scene — indistinct by 
age and long use — might be taken just as well for a church as for a castle, or for a 
forest as for a cave, or for any other thing in hand, this one scene served for all man- 
ner of pieces, from the death of Cain to the exploitsof Rinaldo, or the misadventures 
of Policinella.) But here, as was the case with Partridge's friend, the figures Avere 
as big as life, or nearly so, and the whole puppet-show was performed with great 
regularity and solemnity. Some orators might have studied Avith advantage the 
striking attitudes into which these figures were pulled and twitched by the invisible 
movers of the wires ; for here there was more than one Pygmalion to give life, mo- 
tion, and speech, to the burattini ; and the machinery was far more complicate and 
perfect than in the street shows. And some good people there were who thought 
that the automata were more natural and far more impressive than the living actors 
and actresses of the penny theatres in their neighborhood. One old boatman we 
knew, who came from Sorrento, and who would never attend any other theatre than 
the puppet-show, to which he went regularly twice or thrice a week ; but we believe 
that this arose out of some religious or moral scruples. The owner of that puppet 
theatre was an ingenious man, and one that had a high notion of the dignity of his 
profession. When very hard pressed, he could not deny that a representation by 
living actors and actresses had some advantages over a representation by dolls and 
puppets. "But," he would say, "there is one decided advantage which I, as im 
presario, have over my rivals : they are always tormented by the wants, the caprices, 
and rebellions of their company ; but my little men and women of wood and wire 
and rags never give me any such trouble: they are often made to suffe^ martyrdoms 
by the intolerable tyranny of their prima donna, or of their chief tyrant, or primo 
amoroso ; with them it is always happening that this lady has got a cold and won't 



352 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




Cassetta de' Burattini. 

sing — t]iat this gentleman is in love, or in drink, or put under restraint for debt, and 
can't act; and then the jars about the distribution of parts, and the deadly jealousy 
and hatreds that break out, and ofttimes mar the best pieces ! But /know none of 
these sore troubles: my company have no caprices, no jealousies, no tyranny, no 
wants, no colds ; they never quarrel with me or among themselves, and, above all 
things, they never ask me for money — they are never missing at play or rehearsal ; 
and when they are done playing, paffati! (whack) I throw them into my boxes and 
lock them up ! Ministers of state, who manage kingdoms, have been put to it how 
to manage a royal company of actors and actresses. A child might manage my 
Fantoccini." 

In the Elizabethan age, the Fantoccini, if not then introduced for the first time, 
appear to have become rather popular in England. It should appear, however, that 
these first puppets were very diminutive in size, and were exhibited only at fairs and 
wakes. Bartholomew Fair, in London, was where they shone most. Their plays 
were then called " motions." .Ben Jonson makes his Bartholomew-Fair puppet- 
showman say: "Oh! the motions that I, Lanthorn Leatherhead, have given light 
to in my time, since my master Pod died ! Jerusalem was a stately thing, and so 

was Nineveh, and the city of Norwich But the gunpowder plot, there 

was a get-penny V The same great personage says — " Your home-born subjects 
prove ever the best, they are so easy and familiar: they put too much learning in 
their things now-a-days !" Yet it should seem that eastern and scriptural subjects 
formed by far the greater part of the stock of these pupp6t-plays. In another place 
Ben Jonson names one puppet-play which enjoyed a long run, and Avhich he calls 
"A new motion of the city of Nineveh, with Jonas and the whale." These tiny 
puppets evidently aspired to no higher fame than such as could be got from 
children and the poorer people. But the larger puppets, the Fantoccini, that were 
as large as life, or nearly so (like those of our Neapolitan manager), were destined 
to obtain the admiration of the grown-up fashionable world, and of full-grown royalty 
itself. Some Italian speculators of this last kind found their way to England in the 
time of Charles II. In the summer of 1662, Samuel Pepys saw the puppet-plays in 
Covent garden ; and in the autumn of that year they were exhibited before King 
Charles and the court in the palace of Whitehall. In was nearly at the same time 
that women tvere first introduced upon the English stage to perform the female parts, 
which had hitherto been done by boys and young men, the latter having always been 
clean shaved before they put on the dress of Desdemona or Ophelia, or of such other 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 353 

delicate part as they might have to play. But this nearer approach to real life did 
not affect the popularity of the wooden actors. The Italian puppet-shows took 
amazingly, and continued for many years to be frequented by the fashionable world, 
and a large part of the town. With many these shows even rivalled the Italian opera 
of that day ; and Signor Nicolini Grimaldi, that admirable Neapolitan singer and 
actor, was often deserted for his wooden countryman Policinella and the other puppets 
that played tragedy and comedy. 

Punch is a universality, and of a remote and indisputable antiquity. He is found 
in so many countries and at such distant periods of time, that it is impossible to say 
where or when he had his origin. He is as popular in Egypt, and Syria, and Turkey, 
as ever he was in Rome or Naples. Under the name of Karaguse, or Black-Snout, 
he has amused and edified the grave, bearded citizens of Cairo and Constantinople 
for many an age. Some living traces of him have been found in Nubia, and in other 
countries far above the cataracts of the Nile ; while types or symbols of him have, 
according to some interpreters, been discovered among the hieroglyphics of the 
ancient Egyptians. He was popular at Algiers ages before the French went to 
conquer that country. The children of the wandering Arabs of the desert know him 
and cherish him. He is quite at home among the lively Persians, and beyond the 
Red sea and the Persian gulf, and the Indian ocean, Karaguse, or Black-Snout, is 
found slightly travestied in Hindostan, Siam and Pegu, Ava and Cochin-China, 
China Proper and Japan. The Tartars behind the great wall of China are not un- 
acquainted with him, nor are the Kamschatkans. He has recently been discovered 
leading an uncomfortable sort of existence among some of the Afghan tribes, to whom 
no doubt he has been introduced by the Persians. 

Some of the learned have opined that Puach and the whole family of burattini, or 
puppets, were originally introduced into Europe from the East at the time of the 
Crusades ; but their hypothesis seems to be deficient in any solid foundation of fact. 
Others, perplexed with the difficulty of his genealogy, have supposed that Punch 
must have had several fathers, or several distinct origins at different limes and in 
different parts of the world ; and as Punch is made up of the stuff which is found 
wherever man is, this seems to be a good theory. Yet, to treat of him only in his 
European existence, he is rather a mysterious character. Capponi and other erudite 
Italian authors consider him as a lineal representative of the Atellan farcers, who 
■.amused the people of Campania and the citizens of Rome as far back as the time of 
the Tarquins. These Atellan farcers were Oscans, and took their name from the 
tovrn of Atella, which stood where the village of Sant' Elpidio now stands, about 
two miles to the southeast of the modern town of Aversa, and only some six or seven 
miles from the city of Naples, the headquarters of Policinella. The Italian, 
antiquaries found a convincing resemblance between Policinella's master and a little 
figure in bronze with a beak and chicken nose to its face, which was discovered at 
Rome; and from this chicken nose they derive Punch's Neapolitan name, Pullus 
signifying a chicken, Pullicinus, a little chicken, &c. Another bronze figure with 
the same nose or beak was discovered a few years ago among the bronzes dug out 
of Herculaneum ; and in the ancient guardroom at Pompeii (before parts of the stucco 
were broken and purloined by some shameless travellers), there was a figure drawn 
upon the wall by some idle Roman soldier, which closely resembled the Neapolitan 
Punch, not only in feature but also in costume and gesture ; and this rude but no 
doubt faithful delineation had been buried for sixteen centuries under the scoriae, 
pumice, ashes, and cinders of Mount Vesuvius, before it was restored to light. 

The Atellanse Fabulse, or Ludi Osci (the Atellan or Oscan farces), were anterior 
to any Roman or Italian stage. They were played upon planks and tressels — their 
theatre not being unlike that of the modern Ciarlatano, or mountebank. The actors 
spoke their own Oscan dialect, even as Policinella always speaks the Neapolitan 
dialect. One of their never-failing characters was Macchus, a roguish clown or buf- 
foon, who made merry with everybody and everything, and who is believed to have 
worn a mask exactly like that of the modern Neapolitan Punch. But there were 
indisputably other and better family resemblances and points, in which the most 
ancient Oscan Macchus claims affinity with the true Punch of all ages and countries. 
The old Oscan has a natural elegance, and an unfathomable store of good-nature; 
he had no envy or malice ; he loved those he made sport of, and in his most satirical 
allusions, his object was to excite joyous and innocent laughter, and not to rouse 
feelings of hatred or contempt. Hence, in the most high and palmy state of Rome, 

23 



354 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

he and his Oscan farces were admired by all classes of the community. Livy laid 
down the pen of history to listen to his drollery ; Cicero paused to hear him as he 
went to or returned from the forum ; and critics of refined taste applauded his jests ; 
nay, Sylia, or Sulla, that mighty and terrible dictator, was said at one time of his 
life to have written Atellan farces for the Oscan Punch to play in. Throughout the 
period of the empire, or at least from the time of the emperor Augustus down to 
that of the last of the Csesars, these Ludi Osci enjoyed an undisturbed popularity. 
Like other good things, they were eclipsed or trodden under foot in the anarchy and 
barbarism which followed. Some think that they were entirely destroyed, together 
with every memory of their having once existed ; but this is, at the least, problem- 
atical. We rather lean to the opinion of those who maintain that, like the Delhi 
Lama in Thibet, Punch within the limits of Naples was the great "Undying One." 
We look upon the story told by the learned and acute Galiani, in his vocabulary of 
the Neapolitan dialect, as upon a mere revival. The story goes thus : " Once upon 
a time (it was a very long time ago), a company of strolling comedians chanced to 
arrive at the town of Acerra, near the city of Naples, in the season of vintage. At 
that merry season, even more than in carnival time, the country-people are allowed 
all the liberty and license of the ancient Saturnalia. They daub and stain them- 
selves with the wine-lees, put wreaths or garlands upon their heads, dress up a young 
man as Bacchus, and an old one as Silenus, give full play to their lungs and tongues, 
and play nearly ail the pagan pranks that were performed by their ancestors, or pred- 
ecessors in the soil, two thousand years ago, at the same joyous season of the year. 
Whomsoever they see, they accost with songs and jests. Judge, therefore, how the 
vintagers gathered round the strolling players, with their jokes and vociferations. 
The universal rule is, that everybody must either pay a fine or cap the jests. The 
comedians, being jest-makers by profession, and poor by destiny, tried the latter 
course, but were beaten and silenced. One of the vintagers, called Puccio d'Aniello, 
or Puccio the son of Aniello, remarkable for a very queer nose, and for an appear- 
ance altogether grotesque, was the most forward and witty of all his band, and it 
was his torrents of drollery and fancy that drove the poor players out of the field. 
Reflecting on this occurrence professionally," so goes Galiani 's story, " the comedians 
thought that a character like that of their antagonist Puccio dAniello, might prove 
very attractive on the stage ; and going back to the vintager, they proposed an en- 
gagement to him, which he accepted. The engagement proved profitable to both 
parties, and wherever they went and acted, whether in the capital or in provincial 
towns, Puccio d'Aniello drew crowded houses. After some years Puccio died, but 
his place was presently filled by a competent and everyway-worthy successor, who 
assumed his name, liquified into Polecenella (the strictly correct designation in the 
Neapolitan dialect), and also his manner and costume, and not having the same nat- 
ural nose, he perpetuated that feature of the facetious vintager by wearing a mask 
for the upper part of his face, upon which Puccio's nose was lively represented. 
By degrees, personifications of the original Puccio d'Aniello were multiplied all over 
the kingdom ; and the name and character of Polecenella became immortal." 

This is the whole of Galiani's story ; and a very good story it is. But the acute 
reader will see and bear in mind that Acerra, the named birthplace of Puccio, lies 
in the Oscan territory, and a very little way from Atella, the native home of Mac- 
chus and the Ludi Osci. He will also remember the antique bronze figures, with 
their typical noses, and the delmeation on the wall of the guardhouse at Pompeii, 
as well as the good etymology which derives the name from the hooked nose, or 
beak. Moreover, it remains to be mentioned, that though Policinellas were multi- 
plied after the demise of Puccio d'Aniello, and have been multiplied in all succeed- 
ing ages, there has never been more than one true and real Policinella living at any 
one given time, while there has never been any time since the obscuration of Puccio, 
without its one real and super-excellent Policinella. The Neapolitans no more ex- 
pect two at a time, than they expect two suns or two moons. Their one Punch has 
his temple and shrine in the capital ; the rest that flit about in the provinces are 
pseudo Punches, with nothing of the character save the mask and dress. We say 
little ; we never try to broach a theory or to build up a system ; but we think of the 
Delhi Lama in Thibet, who was born again young as soon as he died old, and of the 
perpetual rejuvenescence of Punch in this Oscan corner of the kingdom of Naples, 
and then — but a word to the wise is enough. 

During our long stay at Naples we had la felicita di conoscere — the happiness of 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 355 

knowing two Policinellas. The first was so admirable, so killingly droll, that 
we could not hope to see his loss supplied ; but no sooner had he sickened 
and died than another Policinella sprung up, ready and perfect, and so like his 
predecessor, that he might have passed for him but for the misfortune and blem- 
ish of his having only one eye. We knew this second Punch off the stage as well 
as on it. The poor fellow could scarcely read, and yet his mind was a well-spring 
of wit and fun, and of the raciest and richest humor. Much of what he said on the 
stage was his own invention or composition, and it very often came from him as an 
impromptu. He had always something to say on the event or predominant folly of 
the day, and most facetiously did he say it, in his broad, open-mouthed, Neapolitan 
dialect, which we take to be the most happy of all vehicles for the conveyance of 
humor, and perhaps also of wit. One of the pieces in which he was very great, was 
entitled "Le Novanta-Nove Disgrazie di Polecenella," or " The Ninety-nine Misfor- 
tunes or Mishaps of Punch." He was also very eminent in " I'Accademia de' Poeti," 
or the "Academy [or Club] of Poets," where he revelled in sports and jests, at the 
expense of the poetasters and sonneteers of the day, who, like the Roman verse- 
makers in Horace's time, had an inveterate habit of stopping their acquaintances in 
the streets and public places, and there holding them fast, while they recited, with 
loud voice and passionate gesticulations, their last compositions. All these plays or 
farces were from beginning to end in the Neapolitan dialect ; the drollest of the 
standing characters, next to Punch, being 11" Biscegliese^ or Man of Bisceglia, and II 
Tartaglione, or the Stutterer. TheBiscegliese, who was a true comic genius, and a 
native of Bisceglia, in the province of Apulia, where the modification of the national 
vernacular is exceedingly droll, represented a whole class, being that of the Apulian 
townspeople. The stammerer or stutterer was always attired as a provincial lawyer 
or notary, and his fun consisted chiefly in the strange way in which he dislocated 
his words and sentences. As Policinella was always Policinella, so was the Bisceg- 
liese always the Biscegliese, and the Tartaglione the Tartaglione. They never 
played any other parts ; but the pieces in which these standing characters were 
introduced, varied in plots and incidents, and while some of them were new, others 
boasted a very respectable antiquity. This truly national theatre was situated not 
far from the great theatre of San Carlo (the most extensive, and, on the whole, 
most splendid opera-house in Europe), on one side of the Largo del Caslello, or 
Castle-square ; it was called San Carlino, or little San Carlo ; and little it was, and 
far from being splendid in its appointments and accessories. The boxes were on a 
level v/ith the street or square, but to get to the pit you had to descend some thirty 
feet into the bowels of the earth, and to dive down a steep staircase, not unlike that 
by which Roderick Random and his faithful Strap dived for their dinner. The price 
paid for admission was very small ; we think it was about a shilling for a seat in the 
boxes, and about sixpence for a seat in the pit. Everywhere there is a " fashionable 
world," and a set of superfine people, who deprive themselves of much racy and 
innocent amusement, from a notion that it is not genteel. San Carlino was rarely 
visited except by. the second and third-rate classes of burgesses, for the native fash- 
ionables considered it as " low," and very few foreigners ever acquired a sufficient 
knowledge of the patois or dialect to enjoy and fully understand these rich Neapol- 
itan farces, and the perennial wit and humor of our friend Punch. But before 
we quitted Naples, this ridiculous prejudice seemed to be on the decline, for 
a few young men of family, who had wit as well as high birth, had appreciated the 
genius of that living Policinella, and had made the little cellar almost fashionable. 
For ourselves, we very often strolled away from the gorgeous and fine, and thor-. 
oughly artificial opera-house, to enjoy a little homely nature • and drollery in San 
Carlino, where we have laughed more than we shall ever laugh again. As in every 
other theatre in the city, there was always present a commissary of police, to pre- 
serve order and decorum, and check any too free use of the tongue on the stage. 
This representative of the laws, and of majesty itself, wore a blue court-cut coat, 
embroidered with silver ; he sat in what we call a stage-box, on a high-backed 
chair, covered with faded crimson velvet, and behind his back there were two large 
wax candles, and the royal arms of the Two Sicilies painted upon a bit of board. 
But not all this official splendor could repress the hilarity or stifle the roguish im- 
promptus of friend Punch ; and we have at times seen the starch-visaged commis- 
sary, after some vain attempts to maintain his dignity, hold both his sides, and join 
in the universal roar of laughter ; and this too even when Signer Policinella had gone 



350 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



beyond bounds, and handled matters strictly tabooed. What Forsyth said of the 
Molo and the Marionettes, and out-door Punch, might be more correctly applied to 
San Carlino : " This is a theatre where any stranger may study for nothing the man- 
ners of the people. At the theatre of San Carlo the mind, as well as the man, 
seems parted off from its fellows in an elbow-chair. There all is regulation and 
silence ; no applause, no censure, no object worthy of attention except the court and 
the fiddle. There the drama — but what is a drama in Naples without Punch ? or 
what is Punch out of Naples 1 Here, in his native tongue, and among his own coun- 
trymen, Punch is a person of real power ; he dresses up and retails all the drolleries 
of the day ; he is the channel and sometimes the source of the passing opinions; he 
can inflict ridicule, he could gain a mob, or keep the whole kingdom in good humor 
Such was De Fiori, the Aristophanes of his nation, immortal in buffoonery." 

How it fares with the little theatre of San Carlino and the inn-door Punch, we 
know not ; but we are informed that the out-of-door Punch and the burattini, in 
general, have been suffering a worse than heathen persecution at the hands of the 
present government ; that povero Policinella is banished from his home and coun- 
try, and that in consequence of these and similar improvements, all life and brio are 
vanishing from the streets of Naples. It is some comfort to know that Punch, at 
the same time, is becoming more popular at Paris than ever he was before 




Tomb of Clement XII., in St. Peter's, at Rome. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 357 



CHAPTER XIV.— ITALY. 

The environs of Rome present many objects of interest to the antiquary and 
traveller. 

The church of St. Cecilia in Trastavere was erected on the foundations of the 
house of St. Cecilia, and contains the hath wherein she suflFered martyrdom. The 
court leading to the church is adorned with a fine antique marble vase, and the por- 
tico is embellished with antiqife columns, two of which are granite. The high altar 
of the church is adorned with four columns of nero and bianco antico, supporting a 
baldacchino of Parian marble, under which rest the ashes of St. Cecilia, in a tomb 
composed of alabaster, lapis lazuli, jasper, verde antique, agate, and bronze- gilt. 
Here, likewise, is the statue of St. Cecilia, by Stefano Maderno, in the position in 
which she was found after her martyrdom. The pavement encircling the aliar is 
of alabaster and various precious marbles, and the ceiling is adorned with ancient 
mosaics. Here, also, are a small, round picture of the Carracci school, and an 
ancient pontifical chair. On the right of the great door of the church is ati ancient 
vapor-baih, whose walls exhibit earthen pipes, to convey hot air. This is supposed 
to be the spot where St. Cecilia was killed ; it is now converted into a chapel, and 
contains two pictures in the style of Guido ; the one representing the decapitation 
of the saint, the other her coronation. 

The basilic of St. Maria in Trastavere is generally supposed to stand upon 
the foundations of the Taberna Meritoria, which was an hospital for invalid sol- 
diers. The portico of this edifice is supported by antique granite columns, and 
adorned with ancient mosaic ; it likewise contains several ancient inscriptions. 
The church is a noble structure, divided into three naves by twenty-two magnificent 
antique columns of red and gray granite ; four columns of the same description sup- 
port a fine architrave, and some of the capitals are adorned with heads of Jupiter 
and Juno. The pavement is that kind of mosaic which was invented by the empe- 
ror Alexander Severus, and consists of porphyry, verde antique, &c. In the centre 
of the roof of the middle aisle is an Assumption of the Virgin, by Domenichino, and 
the chapel to the left, on approaching the high altar, is embellished with frescoes, 
attributed to the same great artist. The baldacchino of the high altar is supported 
by four columns of porphyry, and the tribuna adorned with mosaics of the twelfth 
century. Here, likewise, are two still more ancient mosaics ; the one representing 
birds, the other a seaport. This basilic also contains an ancient pontifical chair, 
together with the tombs of two celebrated painters — the Cav. Lanfranco, and Giro 
Ferri. 

In the piazza, before the church, is a fountain, made during the pontificate of 
Adrian I., and the most ancient of modern Rome. 

The church of St. Prisca, Mount Aventine, is on the left, in ascending the Aven- 
tine hill, from Rome, and is supposed to have been originally a temple of Diana. 
Twenty-four antique columns yet remain ; and an Isiaic table was found near the 
church, which circumstance leads some persons to imagine it was a temple of Isis, 
especially as Isis had a temple on the Aventine hill. 

The church of St. Sabina, further, to the right, is a noble edifice, and is supposed 
to stand on the foundations of the temple of Diana, built by Servius TuUus, for the 
common use of the cities of Latium, and therefore called Templum commune Latium ; 
or else, on the site of the temple of Juno, built by Camillus. But all we know to a 
certainty on this subject is, that the portico exhibits four antique columns, two of 
which are rare granite ; that the interior of the church is supported by twenty-four 
particularly beautiful antique fluted shafts of Parian marble, with Corinthian bases 
and capitals; and that the shape of the church resembles an ancient temple. In the 
last chapel on the right of the high altar is a picture, by Sassoferato, representing 
the Madonna, St. Domenico, St. Catharine, and the angels. The small paintings 
round this fine work are good ; they represent the life of our Savior. 

The church of St. Alessio, still further to the right, is supposed, by some persons, 
to have been erected on the foundations of the temple of Hercules. Here are an 
ancient pavement and an ancient well. The high altar is adorned with fine columns 



358 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



of verde antique ; the tabernacle is handsome ; and adjoining to the church is the 
villa of the deceased king of Spain, said to stand on, or near the site of the temple 
of Dea Bona (the earth). The garden belonging to this villa commands a very 
fine view. Behind the Aventine hill is Monte Testaccio, anciently Mons Testaceus, 
which, though one hundred and sixty-three feet in height, and above five hundred 
feet in circumference, is composed, almost entirely, of potsherds, conjectured to have 
been heaped upon this spot, in former ages, by workmen belonging to the potteries 
of the neighborhood. 

The pyramid which was , erected in memory of Caius Cestius, septemvir epu- 
lonum, or provider for the feasts of the gods, measures one hundred and thirteen 
feet in height ; and each of its four sides is, at the base, sixty-nine feet in length. It 
was built in three hundred and thirty days, and adorned with paintings, now almost 
totally eff'aced. It stands near the Porta St. Paola, called Ostiense, by Aurelian. 




Pyramid of Caius Cestius. 



The baths of Caracalla, on the plain below the Aventine, and opposite to the 
Celian hill, are magnificent ruins. They contained sixteen hundred sellcB, or bathing- 
places, and were ornamented with the Farnese Hercules of Glycon, the group of the 
Toro Farnese, and the Farnese Flora. The building seems to have been nearly 
square, and consisted of subterranean apartments, with two stories above them. In 
order to see what remains, drive toward the Porta St. Sebastiano, till, on the right, 
you find a green lane (called Via Antonina) leading to a door, through which you 
enter a vast pile of ruins, once part of the baths. Here may be traced two immense 
courts, which appear to have been open, with niches for statues, and perhaps for baths 
likewise. Here, also, are two staircases, and almost innumerable apartments of 
various dimensions. The height of the walls is great, and the whole exhibits one of 
the best specimens of ancient Roman architecture now existing. After having ex- 
amined these ruins, return down the Via Antonina, and enter a garden on the right, 
which exhibits the remains of the subterranean apartments. 

The Tomb of the Scipios. — This tomb is situated in a vineyard, on the Via-Appia, 
still nearer to the Porto St. Sebastiano than are the baths of Caracalla ; it is on the 
left side of the way, and the words " Sepulchra Scipionum" are inscribed over the 
door. This was the tomb of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, great-grandfather of 
Asiaticus and Africanus. It is a handsome piece of Doric architecture, very perfect, 
very extensive, and extremely interesting, though now robbed of its most valuable 
treasures. The candles provided by the custode of this subterranean repository are 
so few in number, that persons who wish to see it distinctly should carry lights of 
their own ; it is excessively damp. 

The Gate of San Sebastiano. — Thisis the Appian gate, sometimes called Capena, 
though that gate appears to have stood below the Villa Mattei, between the Celian 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



359 



and Aventine hills. Immediately within the gate of San Sebastiano is au arch, called 
that of Drusus, though it probably belonged to an aqueduct. 




The Catacombs. 



Basilic of San Sebastiano alle Catacombe. — This church is about two miles dis- 
tant from the gate : it has a portico, supported by antique columns, and is supposed 
to have been erected by Constantine. The high-altar is adorned with four antique 
columns of green marble ; and over the three doors of ingress are paintings, by Anto- 
nio Carracci. Under this church are catacombs, originally formed, no doubt, by the 
ancient Romans, and whence they took the pozzolana of which their buildings were 
made. The Christians enlarged these catacombs, and, in times of persecution, used 
them as hiding-places and cemeteries ; they are said to extend several miles. It is 
often necessary to stoop in going through these caverns, but, generally speaking, they 
are neither damp nor difficult of access. The passages are from two to three feet 
wide ; the chambers (of which there are several) are from four to sis feet broad, and 
from six to eight in length, some of them being still larger ; and here it is said the 
primitive Christians performed their religious exercises. In the walls are cavities 
about a span and a half high, and between four and five long, many of which are 
open and empty, others closed with a piece of marble, sometimes containing an in- 
scription. Few of these cavities appear large enough to contain a full-grov*rn per- 
son, though the skeletons of children have frequently been found in them : and this 
circumstance makes the conjecture that children, among the ancients, were oftener 
buried than burnt, very plausible. Here have been discovered several small vases, 
called lachrymatories, though more probably incense-bottles ; and here likewise are 
places for cinerary urns. When this mark, "X[*." is found upon a monument, it is 
deemed a sure indication of a martyr's sepulchre, being a composition, from the Latin 
and Greek alphabets, to denote pro Christo. The cross on a monument is also con- 
sidered as a sign that a Christian lies buried there : but it should be remembered 
that a cross was the Egyptian emblem of eternal life, and many crosses have been 
discovered upon Egyptian tombs, and likewise in the temples of Serapis. The 
churches of St. Lorenzo and St. Agnes^lso lead to ancient catacombs, whose extent 
can not be accurately known, because it is impossible to explore every part of them, 
as their communications with each other are so intricate, that several persons have 
lost themselves in these subterranean labyrinths — which are, however, supposed to 
be the Puticuli mentioned by Horace, Varro, and Festus Pompeius, where the bod- 
ies of slaves only, or persons whose circumstances would not allow of their being 
burnt on funeral-piles, were deposited ; but in'process of time, persons of a higher 
rank might probably be interred here : for the Romans, before Christianity prevailed, 



360 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



often buried their dead, as is evident from monumental inscriptions beginning with 
the words " diis manibus." The chapel of the catacombs of San Sebasiiano contains 
a bust of that saint, by Bernini. It is necessary to carry lights, in order to see these 
catacombs well. 

Circus of Caracalla. — On the left side of the road, and at the foot of the hill on 
which stands the tomb of Cecilia Metella, is the circus of Caracalla, together with 
ruins of various edifices belonging to it. The first of these that presents itself is a 
large rotunda, supposed to have been the quarters of the praetorian guard, while the 
emperor attended the circus ; and, enclosing this rotunda, whose second story was a 
serapeon.. are remains of a double row of lofty walls, between which, it is supposed, 
were the stables of the horses used for the chariot-races ; while the open inner space, 
or quadrangle, where stood the before-named serapeon, contained the cars. Near 
this building is ain ancient sepulchre, leading to the circus of Caracalla, which is 
more perfect than any other of the whole fifteen that once adorned Rome : for here, 
the metse, the spina, the situation of the obelisk, the seats, and the porticoes whither 
the spectators retired in case of rain, are all discoverable. The emperor's seat, or 
podium, seems to have been opposite to the first meta, and from the podium he gave 
the signal to begin the race. The spina was raised above the level of the arena, 
that the cars might not break in upon the obelisk, altars, and statues, which adorned 
it. The meta was broader than the spina, and along the sides of tlie circus, between 
the seats and the arena, was a ditch 'filled with water, to prevent the cars from ap- 
proaching too near the spectators. There was a space of about twelve feet between 
the metse and spina, serving as a passage to the latter, and to the cells where, it is 
supposed, the altars of Consus were concealed : he appears to have been the god of 
Counsel ; and hence the Romans called a consultation consilium, and their chief 
magistrates consuhs. They hid the altar under ground, to signify that counsels 
ought to be kept secret. In the great area between the first meta and the carceres, 
combats of gladiators and wild beasts were exhibited ; and sometimes water was in- 
troduced, and Naumachim represented. In the walls of this circus, and likewise in 
those which surround Rome, are earthen pots, whose spherical shape, operating like 
arches, diminished the perpendicular weight of the fabric, and contributed to strength- 
en it. The triumphal gate through which the victors drove is still nearly perfect, 
and precisely opposite to the gate of the Via^Appia ; the water, likewise, still remains 
in the circus, which is supposed to have contained about twenty thousand spectators. 
To the north of this circus, in a neighboring vineyard, are considerable remains of 
the temples of Honor and Virtue, built by Marcellus, after his Sicilian conquests, in 
the year of Rome 544, and so constructed that it was impossible to enter the former 
without passing through the latter. 

Tomb of Cecilia Metella.— Kd^d. not the Roman barons, during the middle ages, 
converted this beautiful edifice into a fortress, and built a parapet and portholes 

Tomb of Cecilia Metella. 






rVX 




CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 361 

round its summit, it might have lasted to eternity, so durable is the manner of its 
construction. The monument was erected by Crassus, to enclose the remains of his 
wife, Cecilia Metella ; and, notwithstanding the above-named ugly parapet, is one 
the best-preserved sepulchral fabrics of ancient Rome. 

About two miles from this monument is an ancient public Ustrina, where the dead 
were burnt ; and near the Fossae Cluilise, in this neighborhood, about five miles from 
Rome, and on a spot now called Casale Rotondo, is the scene of combat between the 
Horatii and Curiatii. 

Basilic of San Paolo, fuori delle Mura. — This vast edifice was erected by Con- 
stantine over the grave of St. Paul, enlarged by Theodosius, and finished by Hono- 
rius. The length of the edifice, exclusive of the tribuna, is two hundred and forty 
feet, and its breadth one hundred and thirty-eight feet. Antique columns, a hundred 
and twenty in number, divide it into five aisles ; and twenty-four of these columns, 
placed in the middle aisle, were taken from Adrian's mausoleum : they are of rare 
marble, called pavonazzo, beautifully fluted in a peculiar manner, and of the Corin- 
thian order, each shaft being one entire piece. The pillars which support the great 
arch of the tribuna are forty-two feet in height, and fifteen in circumference ; and be- 
hind the shrine of St. Paul is a column, with an equilateral Parian marble base of 
seven feet, finely worked. The pillars that adorn the altars are porphyry ; and un- 
der the high-altar, which is rich in precious marbles, rest the ashes of St. Paul. The 
arch of the great nave is ornamented with mosaics of the year 440 ; and on the walls, 
above the columns, are portraits of all the popes, two hundred and fifty-three in num- 
ber, beginning with St. Peter and ending with Pius VII. The pavement abounds 
with fragments of ancient sepulchral inscriptions ; and the central entrance-door, con- 
sisting of bronze embellished with bas-reliefs, was cast at Constantinople in 1070. 
The outside of this church is adorned with mosaics: and under the portico of the 
adjoining cloister are antique marbles and inscriptions.* 

Church of San Paolo, alle ire Fontane. — Nearly two miles beyond the basilic of 
St. Paul is the spot where this great apostle suff*ered, and where considerable num- 
bers of Christians were executed by command of the emperor Diocletian, after he 
had employed them in erecting his baths. On this spot are three churches : the first, 
St. Maria Scala Coeli, was built by Vignola, and is deemed a good piece of archi- 
tecture : the inside, an octagon, contains a mosaic, by Francesco Zucca, of the school 
of Vasari, said to be the first thing of its kind executed in good taste after the revival 
of the arts. The second church, that of Saints Vincenzo and Anastasio, contains 
frescoes of the twelve apostles, a Noli me iangere, and the baptism of our Savior — 
all executed after the designs of Raphael, bu^ much injured, except the last. The 
third church, that of St. Paul, was built by Giacomo della Porta, and does honor to 
his taste. The interior of the edifice contains two altars, and three fountains, called 
miraculous ; together with ten columns of rare marble,t which adorn the fountains 
and altars. Here is a white stone, on which the head of St. Paul is supposed to 
have been cut ofi"; and here, likewise, is a picture of the crucifixion of St. Peter, by 
Guido, which appears to have been finely executed, but is now much spoiled. 

Besides these antiquities, there are several towns near Rome which are visited by 
every traveller. One of the most interesting of these is Tivoli. The distance from 
Rome to Tivoli is about eighteen miles, and the road, generally speaking, good, 
though now and then, in the ancient Via Tiburtina (great part of which still re- 
mains), there are large, loose blocks of basalt, which, if not avoided, might break a 
carriage. 

After passing the gate and church of San Lorenzo, the first interesting object you 
discover is the Ponte-Mammolo (Pons Mammeus), thrown over the Teverone, an- 
ciently called the Anio, from King Anius, who precipitated himself into it. This 
bridge is about four miles distant from Rome, and derives its present appellation 
from Mammea (the mother of Alexander Severus), by whom it was repaired. Fur- 
ther on, you observe a small monument erected to the memory of Giulia Stemma, by 
her children ; and beyond this, on the left of the high road, and very near it, is the 
Lago de' Tartari, anciently a volcano. The water of this lake petrifies every vegeta- 
ble substance with which it comes in contact, and is curiously hedged round with 
stalactites. You proceed next to the bridge of the Solfatara, thrown over a stream 

• The kinga of England were the protectors of the basilio of St. Paul before the reformation, 
t Two of these columns are green porphyry. 



362 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

anciently denominated Aquae Albulse, which smells offensively, and is so white as to 
resemble milk ; then, driving about two miles further, you see a beautiful landscape, 
formed by the Ponte-Lucano, the Anio, and the Plautian tomb. The Ponte-Lucano 
is supposed to derive its name from M. Plautius Lucanus, which seems probable, as 
close to this bridge stands the abovementioned burial-place of his family, a remark- 
ably handsome edifice of its kind, constructed with travertino, taken from quarries 
on the Apennines near Tivoli. 

After crossing the Ponte-Lucano, you observe two roads, the one leading to Tivoli, 
which is about two miles distant ; the other leading to Adrian's villa, which is about 
one mile and a half distant from the bridge, and nearly twice as much from the town. 
If you take the latter road, three hours and a half from the time of leaving Rome 
you arrive at Adrian's villa. Adrian himself was the architect of this celebrated 
villa, which extended three miles in length and one in breadth, and contained tem- 
ples, theatres, baths, and porticoes, adorned with chefs- d''(zuvre of sculpture and 
painting ; to which buildings he gave the names of the most remarkable edifices in 
the world, calling one the Lyceum of Aristotle, another the Academia of Plato, a 
third the Prytaneum of Athens, a fourth the Serapeon of Canopus, a fifth the Poscile 
of the Stoics, &c., &c. You are conducted first to the Greek theatre, of which the 
proscenium and seats for the spectators may still be traced ; hence you proceed to 
examine three ruins, namely, the temple of the Stoics, the Maritime theatre, and 
the Library, the first two of which exhibit considerable remams. You then visit a 
ruin, called the temple of Diana and Venus, on your way to the imperial apart- 
ments, the vaults of which are, in some places, almost perfect; hence you go to the 
barracks of the praetorian guards, and a hall destined, it is supposed, for philosoph- 
ical studies ; part of the ceiling still remains. Hence you proceed to the baths, ob- 
serving traces of the Naumachia ; and lastly, visit the Serapeon, where some of the 
paintings are tolerably well preserved. 

Having spent a few hours here, you ascend the hill to Tivoli, passing through a 
fine wood of olives, and observing ruins on the right, supposed to be remains of the 
villa of Cassius. Of all the hilly spots in the neighborhood to which foreign resi- 
dents or the natives repair, to avoid the great heat and malaria of Rome during the 
summer, none is so beautiful and otherwise remarkable as Tivoli. The lofty sum- 
mits of Monte-Catily, and a semicircular range of the Sabine mountains, shelter it 
on one side, while the other side commands an open and extensive view of the cam- 
pagna, or great plain, in which Rome is situated ; and beyond the campagna the 
eye reposes on the blue waves of the Mediterranean sea. 

Tivoli is a considerable town, having a population of nearly ten thousand souls. 
It contains some fine, stately mansions : but the mass of the habitations being mean 
and dirty, it can not be called a handsome town. However, the transition to it from 
the magnificence of Rome during the sultry weather is most delightful ; and the vis- 
iter's enjoyment is increased by seeing around him, in spite of their idleness, poverty, 
and rags, a rosy-cheeked, healthy-looking population, altogether different from the 
inhabitants of the city and the plain he has left. The journey from Rome is per- 
formed in good part, and can be performed in its whole length, over an ancient road, 
whose pavement in many places is in as perfect preservation as when, two thousand 
years ago, the poet Horace loitered along it on his way to his pleasant Sabine farm. 
Objects of antiquity and historical interest are crowded on this route ; and when the 
traveller reaches Tivoli, where traditional names identify the sites of the villas of 
Piso, Varus, Lepidus, Cassius, the poet Catullus, and other great men of old Rome, 
he is conducted to an inn, called " Of the Sibyl," from the windows of which his eye 
embraces a magnificent cascade, and the elegant antique temples of the Sibyl and 
of Vesta. The two temples and the cascade just mentioned are the principal orna- 
ments of Tivoli. The cascade is produced by the river Anio, now called the Teve- 
rone, which, after winding through the Sabine vales, glides smooth and silently 
through Tivoli till it reaches the brink of a precipice, where it throws itself in one 
mighty mass of waters down a deep and dark chasm in the rocks ; there it roars and 
foams in a narrow channel, till, finding an opening in the rocks, it rushes headlong 
through it, and descends into caverns and abysses " deeper and deeper still." The 
view of the double fall, which is obtained by descending into the narrow dale through 
which the river flows after the cascade, is one of the finest that can be conceived. 
The whole height of the cataract is about two hundred feet. The rocks that resist 
this tremendous and never-ceasing lashing of the waters are disposed in a narrow 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



363 



semicircular form ; they are in part clothed with shrubs and foliage, and indented 
with romantic caverns ; and in one place the rif er has worked its way through a 
rock and formed a natural bridge, which, whether seen from below, or in passing 
over it, is a most peculiar and striking object in the scene. 

On the summit of the lofty and precipitous rock that flanks this gulf on the right, 
stands the temple traditionally (and most probably correctly) called " Of the Sibyl," 
though some antiquaries have chosen to dedicate it to the goddess Vesta. This truly 
beautiful pile is circular It was formed of eighteen pillars, in the finest style of the 
Corinthian order ; but of these pillars ten only remain with their entablature. Noth- 
ing can be more striking and felicitous than its situation, which even surpasses the 
intrinsic beauty of its structure. The contrast of its placid gracefulness with the tur- 
bulence and fury of the water immediately beneath it also adds to the exquisite 
effect it produces. " This singular ruin, the most beautiful of them all," says the 
acute Forsyth, " has been too often engraved to need any details ; yet, though prints 
may combine it with the immediate landscape, what pencil can reach into the black 
gulf below ?" 




Temple of the Sibyl. 

The Other temple of Tivoli stands very near to that of the Sibyl, whose name it 
frequently usurps ; but time and man have been less merciful to its beauty. Only 
four pillars are left, and they are embedded in the walls of a parish church, which 
is itself abandoned and now "becoming a ruin. 

Albano is situated between Castel-Gandolfo and Aricia, and stands on the site 
of Pompey's villa, named Albanum Pompeii. Remains of an amphitheatre, a reser- 
voir, and a praetorian camp, erected, perhaps, by Domitian, may be traced here ; but 
tlje object best worth notice in this town is a small museum, belonging to Signor 
Guiseppe Carnevali, which consists of sepulchral monuments found under a bed of 
lava in the vicinity of the ancient Alba-Longa. The shape of each of these sepul- 
chral monuments is that of a vase, and within each of the vases was found a small 
cmeTdiry urn of terra-cotta, containing ashes and bones, and made (as is conjectured) 



364 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

in the precise shape of the huts of the original inhabitants of the spot. Each cinerary- 
urn exhibits unknown characters ; and these sepulchral monuments likewise have 
doors, with curious fastenings. The cinerary urn was placed in the centre of each 
monument, and encircled with small terra-cotta vessels (one to hold the sop for Cer- 
herus, others for the purifying water, wine, oil, bread, incense, &c.) ; a lamp, like 
those of pottery used now in cottages ; a stile passed through a canceller ; knives, 
and a lance. After seeing this museum, travellers who have three hours to spare 
should proceed, through a beautiful and shady path, to the hill which commands the 
Lago-Castello, or lake of Albano, which is the crater of an extinct volcano, nearly 
six miles in circumference, and famous for particularly large and fine eels. Castel- 
Gandolfo stands on the top of the hill, and a beautiful walk leads down to the lake, 
where, in the water, remains may be seen of the ancient Alba-Longa. Here, like- 
wise, is a subterraneous canal, called the Emissario, one of the most extraordinary 
works of the ancient Romans,* and said to have been made during the siege of Veii, 
in obedience to the Delphic oracle. It measures about one and a half miles in length, 
and appears quite perfect. Another path, to the left of Castel-Gandolfo, leads back 
to Albano ; and the Ilexes which shade this walk are some of the largest in Italy. 
The garden of the Villa-Barberini, at Castel-Gandolfo, comprises the ruins of Domi- 
tian's villa ; and on the outside of the gate of Albano, leading to Aricia, is an ancient 
tomb, on the left, called that of the Curiatii, though there does not seem to be any 
ground for this assertion. 

The air, both at Albano and Aricia (one mile distant), is less oppressive during 
summer, though perhaps not more salubrious, than that of Rome, and the country is 
beautiful. 

A distinguished writer remarks of the people : " This people, taken collectively, 
neither possess the mildness of the Tuscans, nor the good-humored buffoonery of the 
Neapolitans. The nobility seldom trouble themselves to attain deep erudition, but 
are polite and very kind to foreigners. Gentlemen belonging to the church and law 
are usually well informed ; it is, however, remarkable, that the most learned of these 
are not, generally speaking, Romans by birth. Tradesmen of the first class seldom 
impose on foreigners ; but the populace are frequently prone to exaction, passionate, 
and sometimes revengeful : they likewise retain much of their former haughty char- 
acter. The inhabitants of Trastevere, said to descend from the ancient Romans, are 
not only brave to ferocity, but so proud of their ancestors, that nothing can induce 
them to match with a person who does not boast the same origin. 

"A gentleman told me he lodged in the house of one of these Trasteverini, a bar- 
ber by trade, and wretchedly poor, when his daughter was addressed by a wealthy 
and respectable German ; but, notwithstanding these advantages, the lover received 
a rude and positive refusal from the mother of the girl. My acquaintance, surprised 
at this behavior, asked the mother why she acted so imprudently. ' Your daughter,' 
continued he, ' is wholly unprovided for ; surely, then, you ought to rejoice in an op- 
portunity of uniting her to a rich and worthy man.' — 'Rejoice in uniting her to a 
foreigner, a barbarian !' exclaimed the woman ; ' no ! and were my daughter capable 
of cherishing so disgraceful an idea, I should not scruple to plunge a dagger into her 
heart.' " 

On the road from Rome to Naples the traveller passes through an interesting but 
unhealthy tract of country called the Pontine marshes. They are situated between 
Tre Ponti (anciently Tripontium) and Terracina. The Pontine marshes [Palus 
Pomptina) are computed to be about twenty-four miles in length, and vary from six 
to twelve miles in breadth. Appius Claudius seems to have been the first person who 
undertook to drain them ; Cethegus and Caesar continued the work, which, during 
the middle ages, was repaired by Cecilius Decius, at the command of Theodoric. 
Boniface VIII. was the first pope who began to drain these noxious swamps. Martin 
v., before his accession to the pontifical chair, was employed to carry on the business, 
and succeeded wonderfully by making a canal, called Rio Martino. The princes of 
the house of Medicis, and, after them, Sixtus V., made new canals: succeeding 
popes followed a similar plan, till, at length, Pius VI., nearly accomplished this 
benevolent work ; forming on the foundations of the Via Appia, which were long 
hidden under water, a road justly esteemed one of the best in Europe, and draining 
the swamps so judiciously as to render them capable of being cultivated. French 
engineers pursued the same wise measures ; and Pius VII. at length put the finishing 
stroke to this herculean labor, which has so essentially purified a tract of country, 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 365 

whose gales, ia former times, were fraught with death, that but little danger is to 
be apprehended from travelling through it now, except during the prevalence of the 
dogstar. 

The Pontine marshes form but a small portion of a tract of that part of Italy, which 
borders the Mediterranean from the mountains of Genoa to the extremity of Calabria. 
Of about seven hundred miles in length, they consist, except in a few places, such as 
Naples, where hills intervene, of a broad stripe of flat country extending from the 
seashore to the lower ridges of the Apennine mountains. This region is called the 
Maremma. It is particularly unhealthy during the summer months, from June to 
October, when all the inhabitants who are able remove to the hills, and the few who 
are obliged to remain are exposed to the malaria fever, an intermittent ague, which 
emaciates the body, exhausts the vital strength, and, if not checked in time, proves 
fatal to the patient. The farms in the greater part of this immense tract, and more 
particularly in the Roman and Tuscan divisions of it, are very large, often extending 
to several thousand acres. They are held by wealthy tenants, who live in the towns 
and keep agents and domestics who reside on the spot, at least till harvest-time. 
By far the greater part of the land, although arable, is left for pasture, about one 
fourth or one sixth being brought into cultivation by annual rotation. No villages or 
cottages are to be seen ; but here and there, at long intervals, a dingy, dismal-look- 
ing casale or farmhouse, a speck in the midst of the desert. As there is no fixed 
population in these plains, laborers are engaged from the interior, and chiefly from 
the highlands of the Apennines, where a scanty soil, though under a healthy climate, 
does not furnish sufficient occupation for the native peasantry. They generally come 
down from the mountains in October, in bands of about one hundred each, under the 
guidance of a leader, a sort of jobber, who stipulates for their services and pay with 
the agent of the farm. It is calculated that about twenty thousand come down in 
this manner every year in the Campagna or plains of Rome alone. Many of them 
remain till May, employed in the diff"erent works of the farm. They are engaged 
mostly by the season, and receive at the rate of from twenty to thirty cents a day. 
Their chief nourishment consists of polenta, or Indian corn flour, boiled, with water 
and salt, into a sort of pudding, with the occasional addition of skimmed milk or 
grated cheese. They sleep on the bare ground, either in the casale, or under shelter 
of temporary huts made with canes (arundo tenax), which grow luxuriantly in these 
regions. 

At harvest-time, about the latter end of June, a new reinforcement of laborers 
from the mountains is required. This is the most critical period in the year for those 
poor men who come by thousands from the pure and wholesome atmosphere of their 
native districts to inhale the pestilential air of the lowlands, working by day under a 
burning sun, and sleeping at night in the open air, exposed to the heavy dews and to 
the bite of gnats and other insects. The harvestmen are engaged for eleven or 
twelve days, sometimes a fortnight, and they are paid at the rate of about forty cents 
a day. They are also better fed at this time, and have a plentiful allowance of wine 
and water. -The corn must be cut, thrashed, winnowed, and carried into the 
granary, by the middle of July, after which no one dares to remain in the fields. Mr. 
Chateauvieux, who visited one of these immense farms during the harvest season, 
gives the following description of the scene : — 

" The fattore or steward ordered horses for us to visit the farm, and while they 
were getting ready I examined the casale or farmhouse, a noble but gloomy structure. 
It consisted of a spacious kitchen and two large apartments adjoining, at the end of 
which were three other rooms of similar dimensions, all totally destitute of furniture, 
not even having windows. These formed the ground floor of the centre building. 
Above them were six other rooms of the same size used as granaries, one only being 
furnished for the use of the superintendents. The wings were formed by capacious 
arched stables, at once airy and cool; and above them were lofts for hay. This part 
of the establishment is almost superfluous, being merely used to put up the cattle 
employed in the work of the farm during the resting-time in the middle of the day ; 
at all others they are turned out to graze in the open air. There was not the least 
appearance of care or neatness about the whole farm. Neither trees, gardens, nor 
vegetables, were to be seen. To my observations about this negligence the people 
replied that the cattle would trample down and destroy whatever might be planted 
or sown, and that it was therefore more convenient to purchase their vegetables in 
the neighboring towns, which are surrounded with vineyards, orchards, and gardens. 



366 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




Driving Wild Cattle in the Maremma. — No. 1. 

The expense of carriage is nothing on these large grazing farms, where there are 
always cattle in abundance. They put a loaf and a bundle of hay into the cart, and 
thus equipped will perform a journey of sixty miles without any expense. This 
abundance of animals constitutes the only luxury of these farms. Neither steward, 
superintendents, nor even the herdsmen, ever think of going on foot. They are al- 
ways on horseback, galloping at full speed over the plains, with a gun or a pungoh 
or spear in their hands, and horses are always kept ready saddled in the stables, each 
person employed on the farm having two assigned for his use. As soon as we were 
mounted, the steward conducted us to the part of the farm where the harvest had 
commenced. Broad stripes, of a golden yellow, extended at a distance over the un- 
dulated surface of the soil toward the sea ; and we at length came in sight of a sort 
of army in battle array, with the commanders on horseback having lances in their 
hands, fixed to their stations. We passed several carts drawn by oxen, which were 
loaded with bread intended for the consumption of the men. We beheld before us a 
long line of a thousand reapers round a vast tract of corn which was silently falling 
under their sickles, while twelve superintendents on horseback surveyed and anima- 
ted them from behind. They raised a loud shout at our approach, which resounded 
through the solitude, and was intended as a salute to the master of the farm. Soon 
after, the carts which we had passed drew up under the shade of some oaks, which 
were providentially still remaining in the middle of the plain. At a signal given, the 
reapers quitted their work, and the whole troop defiled before us. There were about 
as many men as women, all natives of the Abruzzi. The former were good figures, 
but the women were frightful. They were bathed in sweat, for the heat was terrible. 
Though it was only a few days since they left the mountains, the malaria was begin- 
ning to affect them. Two only had as yet been attacked by the fever, but I was told 
that the number would increase daily, and that by the end of the harvest, scarce half 
the troop would be left. ' What becomes of these poor Avretches ?' inquired I. * We 
give them a piece of bread, and send them away.' — ' But where do they go V — 
* They return toward the mountains: some of them die on the road, and the others 
reach home exhausted with illness and fatigue to recommence the same attempt 
next yean' The repast of this day was a festival ; for the master, in order to make 
his visit the more welcome, had purchased at Genzano two cartloads of water- 
melons, which were distributed to the reapers with the bread, which in general forms 
their only food. The eyes of the poor people were eagerly fixed on these fine fruits, 
and I can not describe the joy which appeared in their countenances when the large 
knives displayed the red pulp and refreshing juice of the melons, and spread around 
a delicious perfume. They make three meals a day, which divides their labors into 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



367 



two periods, and they are allowed two hours sleep in the middle of the day. Their 
slumbers at that time are unattended with danger; but the earth still serves as their 
bed after the cold dews of the evening have descended upon it, and they pass the 
night on the moist turf in the midst of sulphureous exhalations. Their employers 
say that they would lose too much time were they to return every evening to sleep 
at the casale, which in these extensive farms is often at a great distance."" 

Thus for about five dollars, to which the wages of a reaper during the harvest 
fortnight amount, thousands of the poor men walk fifty or sixty miles and back again, 
to work in the pestilential flats of the Maremraa, with the prospect of catching the 
fever, and either dying away from home, or returning sickly and debilitated for the 
rest of the year. Such is, and has been for ages past, the condition of laborers in 
some of the most celebrated regions of Italy. In the time of the ancient Romans 
the country was cultivated chiefly by slaves, who were considered no better than 
cattle, and over whose persons the owners had unlimited power, beating them, 
mutilating them, or putting them to death at their will. Christianity efi'ected a great 
change : the slaves became, first of all, serfs attached to the soil, and bound to per- 
form a certain measure of work for their masters, but their persons were placed under 
the protection of the laws. By degrees the serfs became emancipated over the 
greatest part of Europe, and although most of them continued poor, they were 
enabled to dispose of their own labor and carry it to the best market. This is as 
much as human justice and benevolence have been able to eff'eci as yet for the 
laborers of Europe in the course of eighteen centuries. Any further improvement 
in their condition must be the result of a slow progress in the general condition of 
society, to be accelerated by the diff'usion of sound knowledge. 

The only stationary population in the Maremma consists of the cow and buffalo- 
keepers, and forest rangers. The former are always mounted and armed with a 
lance, with which they keep in respect the wild cows and fierce bulls, which are let 
to roam about these solitudes. These keepers lead a life of freedom and inde- 
pendence, like that of the Arabs in the desert; they are paid by yearly wages, be- 
sides which they generally rear up cattle of their own, which are allowed to feed 
with the rest. They retire in the summer months to the shady forests which line 
the seashore, and where the air is not so unwholesome as in the open plains. There, 
also, criminals escaped from the pursuits of justice take shelter, and are sometimes 
employed as wood rangers or buff'alo drivers by the people of the neighboring farms. 
The following engraving, as well as that on the preceding page, represents the 
mode of driving cattle to the towns. 




Driving Wild Cattle in the Maremma. — No. 2. 



368 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Far different from the appearance of these poor laborers is the aspect presented 
by those Italian peasants who engage in the vintage : — 

The Vendemmia, or Vintage, is a sort of rustic carnival, or Saturnalia holyday, in 
which, from time immemorial, they have been accustomed to allow themselves, and 
to be allowed by their masters and superiors, a degree of liberty as large as obtained 
among the common people of ancient Rome, when they commemorated the freedom 
and equality which prevailed on earth in the golden reign of Saturn. As long as it 
lasts, the peasants employed in it indulge in a truly Fescennine license of tongue 
with all who approach or chance to pass by, bespattering them with all manner of 
queer language, and pelting them with doggrel rhymes, without any regard to their 
rank or condition. When the wine is all trodden out in the wine-press — trodden out 
by the naked feet of jumping, frolicking, roaring swains — the prime part of the fes- 
tival commences, consisting, generally, of a semi-ludicrous, semi-serious, classical 
procession, and of a good repast at the end of it. On more than one occasion we 
have observed a rather nice attention to detail, and certain delicate distinctions, 
which were scarcely to have been expected from an ignorant, unread peasantry. 
One procession was really admirable. Bacchus, instead of being represented in the 
manner of our vulgar sign-painters, by a fat, paunchy, red-faced, drunken boy, was 
personified by the tallest, handsomest, and most graceful young man of the party ; 
his head was crowned with a wreath of ivy and vine-leaves, mixed with bunches of 
the purple grape, which hung down the sides and the back of his neck ; in his right 
hand he carried a lance, tipped with a cone of pine or fir-apple, and the shaft was 
entwined with ivy and vine-leaves, and some wild autumnal flowers, the thing thus 
being, as nearly as might be, the classical thyrsus, one of the most ancient attributes 
of the god and his followers ; a clean sheepskin, spotted with the red juice of the 
grape, in imitation of the skin of the panther or spotted pard which Bacchus is repre- 
sented as wearing when he went on his expeditions, was thrown gracefully over his 
shoulders ; he was followed by some silent, sedate women, carrying on their heads 
baskets filled with grapes ; by little boys, carrying in their hands large bunches of 
the same fruit ; by Bacchante of both sexes, who carried sticks, entwined with vine- 
leaves ; by two or three carri, or carts, which had been used to convey the ripe fruit 
to the wine-press, each drawn by a pair of tall, cream-colored oxen, with those 
large, dark, and pensive eyes, to which Homer formerly thought it no disparagement 
to compare the eyes of the wife of Jupiter; and in the rear of all came Silenus, a 
fat old man, with his face and hands besmeared with wine-lees, bestriding a fat old 
ass. The Bacchante bounded, danced, frolicked, and laughed uproariously ; Silenus 
lolled and rolled upon his donkey, singing snatches of Vendemmia songs, making all 
sorts of ludicrous grimaces and gestures, and jocosely, yet loudly abusing every 
stranger or neighbor he discovered in the throng. But Bacchus preserved the deco- 
rum and dignity of the true classical character of the god who was as graceful as 
Apollo, who shared with that divinity the dominion of Parnassus, and the faculty 
and glory of inspiring poets with immortal verse. The joyous shouts of " Viva 
Bacco ' Viva la Vendemmia!" the laughs and shouts of the Bacchante, the songs and 
jokes of old Silenus, were mingled with the beat and jingle of two or three tambour- 
ines, with the rural sound of cowhorns, and occasionally with the blasts of a cracked 
but antique-looking trumpet, and with the clapping of hands and shoutings of all the 
men and women, boys and girls, of the district. The Csecuban hills, which bore 
the fruit productive of the generous wine which Horace extolled as the drink of 
Maecenas — and which render as good wine now, though all unknown to fame, as 
they did in the days of Augustus Caesar — echoed and re-echoed with the joyous 
sounds, for the scene of the festivity was at the foot of those hills, on whose sunny 
slopes the vines had ripened which furnished this happy vintage. 

When questioned as to how they arranged their very classical procession, the peas- 
ants could only say that they did as they had done year after year, and as their 
fathers and grandfathers had done before them. The parocchiano, or parish-priest, 
who thought it no sin or degradation to follow the procession, and partake in the 
feast, did not appear to have much more learning on the subject. 

At times, these joyous peasants come from considerable distances ; but whether 
their journey be a long or a short one, they always contrive to come to the Tiber and 
into the renowned old city, dancing and singing. When the distance from the vine- 
yard is short, they will generally dance the whole way, only taking little rests 
between, to refresh themselves with some bunches of the grapes they had been 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



369 




24 



370 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

gathering, or with a little of the last year's wine, and a slice or two of bread made 
of the Grannone, or Indian corn. If you stop and ask them whence they came, the 
chance is that your ear will be charmed by some classical name, or, with only a 
trifling alteration, by the very name of some place of which you have read in the 
ancient Roman poets and historians. And all round about Rome there is scarcely 
a river, brook, lane, mountain, or hill, but retains its ancient name, nor is there a 
rock without a name. The "nulla sine nomine saxum" may still be repeated, and 
hardly is there a rock among them all but is famed in poetry, history, or tradition. 
Say to these vintage people, " Donde venite'f — Whence come you? and the reply 
will probably be, " Veniamo da VellctrV — We come from Velletri (the Velitrse of 
antiquity, that most important of all the cities of the Volsci, against whom Coriol- 
anus waged his glorious warfare) ; or, " We come from the hills of Albano ;" or, 
" We have been gathering grapes on the hills of Palestrina" (the ancient Prseneste) r 
or, " We come from the hills by Lake Nemi ;" or " We have been filling the wine- 
vats at Baccano;" or "We come from Tivoli" (the Tibur of Horace). Or perhaps 
they are danciog from the hills of Veii, that once-populous Etruscan city, which 
stood as long a siege by the Romans as old Troy did by the Greeks, and within the 
almost obliterated circuit of which the shepherd now leads his flock, as in the days 
of Propertius. And you meet these joyous vintagers dancing on those ancient Roman 
roads, the Via Appia, the Via Flaminia, or the Via Valeria, which not only bear 
unchanged their old names, but which are still in many places paved with the large, 
rough, stone blocks which the conquerors of the world laid upon them, while here 
and there you find the ancient milestones erect, and with their inscriptions unefFaced. 
Or if these people have been working nearer home, they are perhaps dancing from 
the Aventine Mount, or from the Viminal, or from the hills which slope down to the 
grotto and fount of ^geria, where the Roman lawgiver met by night his friendly 
nymph and monitress. 

Some of the Avomen and children of these vintagers are always loaded with the 
beautiful purple grape ; and very often, when the nature of the road allows it, there 
is in the van of the procession or Bacchanalian dance a lofty carro, filled within 
with the simple household utensils of those who have been working at a distance 
from their homes, but covered overhead with bunches of grapes hanging from tall 
hoops, or tastefully festooned between tall vine-poles. The large, sedate, cream- 
colored oxen which draw the car, have wreaths round their necks, or chaplets 
thrown on their horns, and it is considered an appropriate grazia or grace, that they 
should bear on their neck or chest some broad stains of the ruby wine. Some of the 
men carry large torches, made of the wood of the pine, which was equally sacred 
to Bacchus and to Neptune, and which, from its resinous nature, burns freely, and 
makes a good blaze. These pine torches are almost facsimiles of those used in the 
ancient sacrifices and festivals, and of which we find such frequent representations 
in ancient sculpture. The men carry them with a truly classical grace. They are, 
for the most part, borne erect ; but at times, as at the conclusion of a dance, or upon 
coming in sight of their houses or their parish-church, they are waved in the air 
overhead with triumphant shouts, and 

• all the people follow with great g\ee. 



Shouting and clapping all their hands on height, 
That all the air it fills, and flies to heaven bright." 

The Fescennine license of language, and the rough jokes, often too practical to be 
pleasant, which we have mentioned in speaking of our dear friend Policinella, are 
left behind in the vineyards and wine-presses, where all the dancing consists of 
jumping with naked feet on the gathered grapes (the only process by which the 
juice is expressed for the making of the wine), and the peasants now only exhibit 
their best dancing to the accompaniment of their most cheerful and best music ; and if 
the stranger is now and then assailed with a jest as he passes the merry group, it is 
but a smooth and harmless one. The Vendemmia dance in itself is far from being 
deficient in natural grace and elegance. The picture is generally beautifully and 
warmly colored, for reds, scarlets, crimsons, and all the brightest hues are found in 
the dresses of the peasantry. Doubtlessly the classicality of the costume is impaired 
somewhat by the men's hats, knee-breeches, and enormous shoe-buckles. For the 
last-named articles the country people, as well of the Roman states as of the Nea- 
politan kingdom, have an extraordinary liking, and the larger and clumsier they are 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



371 




372 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

the more they seem to their taste. If the bright metal of the buckle covers the 
whole instep and reaches nearly to the extremity of the great toe, it is the more ad- 
mired. The women reckon their fortuae by the number of woollen mattresses, rings, 
ear-rings, and gold-chains, they may possess ; the property of a man is often esti- 
mated by his shoe-buckles and walking-stick. A poor fellow who wished to im- 
press us with a high notion of one of his neighbors' substance and well-doing in the 
world, told us that the said neighbor's buckles weighed half a pound, and were of 
solid silver, and that he never went out of a holyday without carrying a gold-headed 
cane: indeed, the expression, "he wears silver buckles and carries a gold walking- 
stick," is a common idiom in the Neapolitan kingdom, signifying that the man of whom 
so much is predicated is in the enjoyment of worldly prosperity. We are speaking in 
the present tense ; but, alack ! great changes, we are told, are taking place and have 
taken place. since we sauntered away a happy time in the sunny south. This tran- 
sition state encourages us to multiply these little recollections and memoranda. 
Such things are not recorded in histories, and are seldom mentioned even in books 
of travels. In a few more years they will have ceased to exist: and in the manners 
and habits of men there is nothing that is, or that has been, but is worthy of some 
preservation. 

A good-natured old priest, who dabbled in antiquarianisms and in poetry, being a 
member of the Roman Archaeological Society, and holding a crook among the Arca- 
dian shepherds as well, endeavored to explain to us that the procession of the return- 
ing vintagers, with their dancing, and music, and burning torches, was nothing but 
a lineal descendant or representative of the triumphal march of the god Bacchus 
while he was subduing India and all the regions of the remote east. " Look at our 
ancient basso-relievoes, and there you will see counterparts or prototypes of this scene 
— Bacchus, who was the inventor of triumphs, seated in a triumphal car, and attend- 
ed by women dancing, men brandishing torches — the panthers and tigers are out of 
our picture, because we have none in these parts ; and the men and women are well 
covered with clothes, as decency requires : but you will see that all the rest is very 
like, and perfectly classical." 

But our good old friend was seldom at a loss in tracing these resemblances, or in 
finding ancient and classical reasons for modern usages. " Why," said we to him 
one day, as we were passing a fine fleck of domestic geese that were waddling along 
one of the banks of the Tiber, " why do your people in the south of Italy never eat 
this bird, which is esteemed very good food in America, France, England, Germany, 
and most other countries ?" He put his forefinger between his eyebrows, and thought 
for a while ; but he soon replied, " Vi diroil perchc — I will tell you why. Ever since 
that memorable and funest night when the geese saved the capitol from the Gauls, 
they have been held as sacred birds." We objected to this derivation of the custom, 
that the peasants treated the geese with very little respect, and at times with great 
barbarity, roughly stripping them, while alive, of their quills, to sell for pens, and of 
their feathers to put into cushions and pillows ; and that none of them knew the story 
about the Gauls, the geese, and the capitol. " This may be," said he, " but the story 
must have been at one time known to all Rome at least, and so the usage has de- 
scended to them through along inheritance, and is not a bit the less binding through 
their ignorance of its origin." To the other objection we raised out of the silence of 
ancient writers, our antiquary replied by asking us who knew whether the sanctifi- 
cation of the geese had not been given in some of the missing books of Livy, or in 
some other of the innumerable writings of ancient authors which have been lost for 
ever 1 There was no disputing the point with him ; and we confess to the never 
having investigated it. All we know about it is, that, although the bird was by no 
means scarce, no Roman or Neapolitan peasant would, in our time, eat of a tame 
goose. Great black snakes we have seen fried and eaten both in Calabria and in 
Sicily ; and the flesh of the wolf was not rarely put upon the table by the poor peas- 
ants of Lucania, Samnium, and Sabina — but gooseflesh did we never see upon table 
or platter. 

At one of the western extremities of the Pontine marshes is the moutb of the river 
Astura, and, beyond that, Capo d'Anzio, the ancient Antium ; while at the other 
western extremity rises Monte Circello, the headland of Circseum, immortalized by 
Homer. Beyond the marshes, in a beautiful situation, stands Terracina, the approach 
to which is particularly fine. It was originally built by the Volsci, and called by them 
Anxur ; but the Greeks afterward called it Trazina ; whence comes the modern 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 373 

name of Terracina. Here are considerable remains of antiquity ; and persons who 
have few leisure hours should inquire for the cicerone, who is always in attendance 
at the inn, and, accompanied by him, visit the cathedral, supposed to have been built 
on or near the site of a temple dedicated to Apollo. The portico of this church con- 
tains a sarcophagus with an inscription in honor of Theodoric, first king of Italy ; 
and the baldacchino is supported by four Corinthian columns of Parian marble, taken 
from the temple of Apollo, considerable remains of which may still be traced, near 
the cathedral. On the brow of a high hill above the cathedral are ruins called by 
some persons, Theodoric's palace, and by others, who judge from Virgil's description, 
the temple of Jupiter Anxur : but be this as it may, the only vestiges discernible now, 
are the subterranean part, with a low square building above it. Antiquaries assert 
that the ruins of Theodoric's palace, and the temple of Jupiter Anxur, may both be 
traced on this height above Terracina. The temple of Jupiter Anxur was erected 
by order of the consul Posthumius, after the designs of Vitruvius PoUio. On the 
way to this spot stand the ancient walls of Anxur, remains of reservoirs, tombs, &c. ; 
and here likewise is a magnificent view of Monte Circello, and the bay of Naples. 
The inn at Terracina stands beyond the town, and near the ancient port, made by 
Antoninus Pius ; which, though now choked up with mud, is well worth notice. An 
endless variety of beautiful flowers and shrubs adorn the rocks beyond Terracina, 
between which town and a building called Torre de' Confini, the road passes near a 
pestiferous lake. Torre de' Confini divides the patrimony of St. Peter from the king- 
dom of Naples, and five miles beyond the entrance to the Neapolitan territories is 
Fondi, a small town on the Via Appia, which constitutes its principal street; it once 
belongted to the Aurunci, a people of Latiura ; and, in the year J 534, suffered cruelly 
in consequence of an attempt made one night, by Hariaden Barbarossa to seize the 
beautiful Julia Conzaga, countess of Fondi, with a view of presenting her to the 
grand signior. Julia, however, being roused from sleep by the clamors of her people 
at the approach of the Turks, sprang from her bed, leaped out of the window, and 
escaped to the neighboring mountains ; while Barbarossa, being thus disappointed 
of his prize, revenged himself by pillaging and destroying the town, and carrying 
many of its inhabitants into slavery. Fondi exhibits considerable remains of Cyclopian 
walls. The air here is deemed unwholesome, owing to the above-named lake. Eight 
miles from Fondi stands Itri, a large village also built on the Via Appia, in a country 
abounding with vines, figs, and lentisks, which last produce gum-mastic. Here are 
remains of a Cyclopian tower. On the right, about a quarter of a mile from Mola, 
is an ancient edifice, in good preservation, supposed to be the cenotaph of Cicero 
placed on the spot where he was murdered, while endeavoring to escape from his 
enemies. 

The approach to Capua is handsome ; but the modern town, built on the banks of 
the Volturno, anciently Volturnus, and about one mile and a half distant from the 
ruins called ancient Capua, is, judging by the report of Strabo and Florus, very un- 
like the latter ; as, instead of being one of the most splendid cities of Europe, it is 
ill-built, dirty, and devoid of any object particularly worth notice. The road from 
Capua to Naples, a distance of fifteen miles, is one continued garden, but exhibits no 
view of the bay, and scarcely any of the city. Between Capua and Naples, in the 
town of Aversa, there is an excellent lunatic asylum, called the Maddalena. This 
edifice, which is spacious and elegantly clean, has belonging to it a large garden 
and a handsome church ; and that persons who are sent to this asylum may be 
pleased with its outward appearance, the grates of every window are shaped and 
painted to represent flowerpots filled with flowers. The attendance here is particu- 
larly good, and the utmost gentleness and indulgence are practised toward the patients, 
each of whom pays fifteen ducats per month ; for which sum they live comfortably. 
The Maddalena accommodates five hundred patients. 



.3174 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



CHAPTER XV.— ITALY. 



Naples (in Italian, Napoli) seems, at first sight, to be universally considered a. 
the most captivating city of Italy, owing to its immense number of inhabitants, mag 
nificent quay, and beautiful situation. This first impression, however, sometimes 
wears ofi": while the bad taste which pervades almost everv building, induces scien. 
tific travellers to prefer Rome, even in her present mutilated state, to all the gayety of 
Naples. This latter city is so ancient that it seems scarcely possible to pierce through 
the clouds of obscurity which envelop its origin. Tradition, however, reports that it 
was founded by an Argonaut, thirteen hundred years before the Christian era, and after- 
ward peopled and enriched by Greek colonies from Rhodes, Athens, and Chalcis. It 
anciently bore the name of Parthenope ; an appellation bestowed by the Phosnicians 
in consequence of its charming situation. Near Parthenope stood another city, called 
Paleopolis, from being so old that its origin was ascribed to Hercules ; and when 
Parthenope was destroyed by her jealous neighbor, the people of Cumse, and after- 
ward rebuilt in obedience to an oracle, the new city was called Neapolis, to distin- 
guish it from the old one, called Paleopolis, till at length both were joined together 
by Augustus. Naples, however, still retained her Grecian manners, customs, and 
language ; and even to the present day retains them in several parts of her territo- 
ries. This city is built on the acclivity of a tufo mountain, at the extremity of a bay 
nearly thirty miles in diameter (called by the ancients Crater Sinus), and sheltered 
on the right by the promontory of Miseno, and on the left by that of Sorrento ; while 
the lofty island of Capri, rising in its centre, acts like an enormous mole to break the 
force of its waves. Nothing can be more magnificent than the city of Naples when 
viewed from this bay, whence all its buildings present themselves to view, rising am- 
phitheatrically, till crowned by the sombre castle of St. Elmo, and, when seen for 
the first time, appears too lovely to be real. It runs in a long and gentle curve round 
the seashore, rising inland up the acclivities of gentle hills, which above the line of 
the city are covered with vineyards and gardens, and speckled with villas and mon- 
asteries. The summit of one of these hills is crowned by the massive palace of Capo 
di Monte, that of another by the spacious monastery of San Martino (and the castle 
of St. Elmo), in the rear of which, and high above, stretches the wooded mountain 
of the Camaldoli, with another picturesque monastery on its brow ; and the ridges 
of these hills immediately behind Naples are fringed in many places with romantic- 
looking villages, and here and there with groups of the graceful Italian pine-tree. 
To the right of the city, at the distance of about four miles, rises the conical volcano 
of Vesuvius, at whose feet repose the villages of Portici and Resina, which stand ■ 
over the ancient city of Herculaneum (buried by an eruption of the mountain), and 
are connected with the capital by an almost uninterrupted chain of suburbs and ham- 
lets. To the left, starting close from the extremity of the city, projects the gentle 
promontory of Posilippo, entirely covered with beautiful little villages, country-seats, 
towers, gardens, and groves. And at the background of nearly the whole of this 
magical picture tower the bold summits of part of the Apennine chain of mountains. 

The view from the city is not less admirable: besides Vesuvius and Posilippo, and 
the winding shores of the bay, it commands, immediately in front, the rugged and 
most picturesque cliflfs of the island of Capri ; a little to the left of that island. Cape 
Campanella, the extremity of a peninsula as grand as that of Posilippo is gentle ; 
and, glancing along that coast until it is surmounted at. a corner of the bay opposite 
to Vesuvius by the sublime heights of Mount St. Angelo, whose rocky summit is or- 
namented by a small white hermitage, the eye can take in the towns of Massa, of 
Sorrento (the birthplace of the poet Tasso), of Vico, of Castellamare, and many vil- 
lages on the declivities of the mountains, or on the cliflfs that, rise on that side per- 
pendicularly from the bay. 

The interior of the city, like Constantinople, is not equal to its external appearance 
and the scenery around it. How, indeed, could it be so ? But, also like Constanti- 
nople, its interior is much better than travellers have generally chosen to describe 
it. Naples is an open and irregularly-built city ; its greatest length is along the sea- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



375 




376 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

shore, where it extends in a curve of about three and a half miles ; its breadth is very 
unequal : at the west end it is so much contracted between the hills of Vomero and 
Belvedere and the sea as only to allow of one or two parallel streets ; there is more 
open space toward the centre, where it extends northward as far as the hills of Capo 
di Monte and Capo di Chino, between which beautiful eminences and the sea stands 
the most populous part of the town, including the old city, whose ditches and walls 
are still to be traced in many places. Its greatest breadth from south to north, or 
from the seashore to the Capo di Monte, is little short of two miles. The ground it 
occupies is of course very uneven, which is the cause of some internal inconvenience 
and of great external beauty. About four hundred thousand souls inhabit the space 
described : so that Naples, as to population, must be reckoned among the great capi- 
tals of Europe. 

The Strada Toledo, which traverses the city for three quarters of a mile, is the 
principal street in Naples, and at least one of the most populous, busy, and noisy 
streets in the world. Nothing can be more striking than the contrast between a 
street of Constantinople and this or almost any other city of Naples. There the pe- 
destrians are few and taciturn, and there are no equipages ; here abound wheeled 
carriages of every description, from the humble hack corricolo with its single little 
horse, to the gay carriage of the noble with its pair or double, pair of proud steeds ; 
and the noise made by the rattling wheels of these thronging vehicles is equalled by 
the vociferousness of the crowding foot-passengers, and by the men, women, and 
children, that ply their business by the sides of the streets. 

Though the Neapolitan taste in architecture is generally far from good, there are 
some fine and imposing palaces on the Toledo, where indeed all the houses are 
lofty ; and as, in despite of a faulty government, the general civilization of Europe 
has of late years crept into that extremity of it, many of the nuisances complained of 
in former times have been gradually disappearing, and the Strada Toledo and some 
other parts of the town assuming an aspect of general decency and comfort. Accord- 
ing to the accounts of those who have known it during all that interval, the progress 
of Naples has been very considerable since 1815. If Toledo could be made a little 
wider, it might become indeed a splendid street. As it is, however, it is as wide as 
the generality of the streets on the continent ; but in the lower or old part of Naples 
the narrowness of the streets is such as to be ridiculous and almost incredible. There 
is an extensive quarter called "Napoli senza Sole," or Naples without Sun, and 
where in reality, from the height and closeness of the lines of the buildings, that lu- 
minary never shines. In some of those streets a man may stand in the middle, and, 
by stretching out his arms, touch the houses on either side of him. Here inhabit the 
poorer and the genuine Neapolitans of the old school, unchanged as yet by the civi- 
lization of Europe, and probably in all things much the same as when the fisherman 
Masaniello, with the populace of these quarters, discomfited and humbled the Spanish 
viceroy. 

The number of churches in the whole city is immense, amounting to several hun- 
dreds. There is more than one street entirely occupied by convents. But of these 
clumsy monastic edifices, which were made to cumber the soil -chiefly during the 
misrule of the superstitious Spaniards, many have long been converted into inns, 
manufactories, colleges, and schools, and the orders or societies to which they be- 
longed have been suppressed. 

One of the most striking features of Naples is the predominance everywhere of 
volcanic matter. The three hills upon which the city chiefly stands (to say nothing 
of Vesuvius on one side of it, and the lake of Agnano, the Astruni, and the Solfaterra, 
on the other, which are so many extinct volcanoes) are themselves three exhausted 
and worn-down craters: the ground in many places is hollow; sources of water im- 
pregnated with sulphur gush out in the town ; every sireet is paved all over with 
broad flags of dark lava cut and brought from Mount Vesuvius ; the subterranean 
road through the grotto of Posilippo, and nearly every other road' where it enters the 
capital, is payed with the same material — one, the road of Portici, for a distance of 
five or six miles. In the construction of the houses, lava and volcanic debris are 
worked up with tufa. Blocks of lava meet you everywhere. They are thrown into 
the sea to form piers and jettees, and the finer sorts furnish materials to carvers and 
other artisans, who cut them into snufl'-boxes, paper-pressers, chessmen, and chimney- 
piece ornaments. 

The most prominent objects in the landscape as seen from the sea, are the Castello 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



377 




. 378 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Nuovo and the castle of St. Elmo. The Castello Nuovo was built by Charles L, 
commonly called Charles of Anjou, in 1266, immediately after he had defeated the 
good king Manfred and conquered the Neapolitan kingdom. It was erected after a 
French model, and filled by a garrison of French and Angevins, who sorely oppressed 
the people. It was then styled the New Castle, to distinguish it from an old castle, 
near the Capuan gate, built by the Suabian dynasty of Naples after a German model. 
Being placed close on the seashore, at the head of the great mole, it was intended to 
defend the port of Naples, and to serve as a sure point at which to receive succors 
from France in time of need. During the reign of the Angevin princes it frequently 
served as a royal palace ; and within its walls some of the most tragical events in 
the lives of the queens Joanna I. and Joanna II. took place. Under the first of these 
two princesses, Petrarch was a frequent visiter at the Castello Nuovo. About the 
year 1430, Alfonso of Aragon greatly enlarged the castle, and brought it nearly to the 
form and condition in which it is now seen. The only parts of the works of the An- 
gevins that remain are a strong round tower near the sea, called La Torre di San 
Vincenzo, the massy basements of some walls, some curious dungeons, and certain 
dark passages underground, which now lead nowhere, but that seem once to have 
opened on the seashore. According to popular tradition, a crocodile once crept in by 
one of these passages and lived there a long time, feeding on soldiers ; and they even 
show the identical " alligator stuffed," which is, or at least was a few years ago, hung 
over the arch of one of the interior gates of the castle. But, whether alive or dead, 
the animal must have been conveyed there by human means, as we need not inform 
our readers that crocodiles are not found in Europe, and that it is not in the habits of 
those creatures to put to sea, or cross the Mediterranean from Egypt or the Moorish 
coast. According to the soldiers, all the old parts of the fortress are dreadfully in- 
fested with spirits and goblins ; and if deeds of blood could give existence to such 
unreal essences, doubtlessly they are to be found in this ancient stronghold of tyranny. 
But the Neapolitans have no notion of ghosts, or " spectres all in white" — their su- 
perstitions only recognise spirits and goblins ; and their monaciello, their head-hob- 
goblin, is a strange creation, being rather farcical than "horrible and awful." The 
notion is among the singular aberrations of the human mind ; and it is interesting to 
see how superstitions that are varied by climate catch and retain the salient points 
of national character. The ghastly spirit of the cloudy misty north is little more 
than a buffoon, a spiritual Policinello, under the gay sky of Naples. 

In 1484, Ferdinand I., who enlarged the city and extended its walls and fortifica- 
tions, strengthened the Castello Nuovo ; and in the early part of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, the last works of any consequence were added to it by the emperor Charles V., 
who included Naples and Sicily in his vast dominions. Shortly after, the Spanish 
viceroys built a palace — the present Palazzo Reale — close to the castle, to enjoy its 
protection in case of popular tumults, which were very often excited by their bigotry 
and oppression. Shut up within these gloomy walls, with not an inch of ground to 
stand upon beyond the lines of this and other fortresses, more than one Spanish don 
has trembled before the irresistible might of a whole people moved by one determined 
feeling and object. A memorable instance of this occurred in 1547, when the viceroy 
of the bigoted Philip II. attempted to establish the inquisition, to which detestable 
tribunal the Neapolitans never would submit, and never have submitted. Another 
instance was at the revolt of Masaniello, the wonderful fisherman of Amalfi, in 
1647, when the people of Naples rose to a man against their haughty oppressors, 
and after five days' fighting, expelled them from the streets of the city. 

Since the modern improvements in the art of war, the only use of the Castello 
Nuovo, the Castello dell' Uovo, the Carmine, and all the forts in Naples, with the 
exception of the castle of St. Elmo, on the hill behind the city, is to check the 
people, and to serve as barracks for troops. Commanded on all sides, and open to a 
bombardment by sea, they are contemptible as a means of resisting a foreign enemy. 
At the sanguinary counter-revolution of 1799, the Castello Nuovo, as well as St. 
Elmo, served as a stateprison for the patriots or republicans ; and many of the no- 
blest and best of the land — fair women and youths, with men of mature age, and 
men at the extreme period of old age — were dragged from its dungeons to the scaf- 
fold. 

These and other recollections may give a melancholy interest to the castle, which 
in itself is a stark, formal, straight-lined, unpicturesque edifice. The ivy and the 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



379 




380 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

moss that we look for on old towers and battlements have not been allowed to grow 
there ; and the last time we saw the castle (in 1827), the late king Francesco had 
just made it perfectly hideous by covering it nearly all over with a coat of bluish- 
white plaster. In the interior there is a curious triumphal arch, called I'Arco d'Al- 
fonso, and a bronze gate, elaborately sculptured, and close by it there are some bronze 
statues of doughty warriors, with their truncheons in their hands, which are worth 
looking at on account of the notion they give of the plate-armor and costume of the 
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, under the Aragonese and Austro-Spanish dynasties. 
As works of art they are poor enough, being hard, stiff, and formal, in the extreme. 
In the bronze gate, which is hollow, there is a cannon-ball lodged in a singular man- 
ner. After penetrating the outer sheet of bronze, the orifice made seems to have 
contracted and closed round the ball, which> though it can be moved by the fingers, 
could not be extracted without cutting away the bronze and considerably enlarging 
the hole. 

The castle of St. Elmo, as it is most generally called, though more correctly St. 
Ermo, or St. Eramo, was first built about the year 1290, by Charles II., the son 
and successor of the fierce conqueror Charles of Anjou. It was, however, enlarged 
and almost entirely rebuilt by the emperor Charles V., and when it was finished, and 
frowned on the heights, and threatened destruction to the populous city that lies close 
at its feet, and when their artillery bristled the strengthened walls of the Castello 
Nuovo and the tower of the Carmine, the Spaniards boasted that they had put a curb 
in his mouth, and would soon break in the cavallo indomito — the wild horse — which 
is the emblem and symbol of the Neapolitan people, and is borne in the city arms. 
And yet it was not so. Whenever their tyranny exceeded certain limits — whenever 
they dared merely to talk of the inquisition — the curb was snapped, the horse broke 
loose, and was as unmanageable as ever. The mass of the people being once roused, 
the Arpajas, the Masaniellos, the Perrones, the Genovinos, and the rest of their 
leaders, cared littled for their fortresses, to which they invariably beat the Spanish 
troops. In carrying on their works at St. Elmo, the Spaniards knocked down 
some Roman buildings, and cut up part of an ancient road that led over the hill of 
the Vomero to Posilippo, which latter beautiful spot, like Baise and Baoli, at a few 
miles distance, was literally covered and crowded with the villas of the Roman patri- 
cians. Fragments of this ancient road, paved with large and rather rough blocks of 
stone, are still to be traced, here and there, along the ridge of the hills between the 
castle and the cape or point of Posilippo. The dry moat round the fortress is broad 
and very deep, the volcanic tufo on which it stands being cut with the greatest ease. 
On the whole, the castle has a commanding situation and an imposing air ; but, 
though quite equal to resist a coup de main, it could hardly stand a long and regular 
siege, for artillery placed on the Araniella, and other heights behind it, could breach 
its walls, and the whole hill could be cut up into trenches and undermined at a com- 
paratively small expense of labor, the tufo being scarcely more difficult to cut than 
an old Gloucestershire cheese. 

Close by the side of the castle, on the face of the hill, and fronting the glorious bay 
and the islands, and the coasts of Pompeii and Sorrento, stands the magnificent Car- 
thusian abbey of San Martino, which was originally built in 1535, by Charles, duke 
of Calabria, the son of King Robert of Anjou, and father of the beautiful and unfor- 
tunate Joanna I., who in the course of her stormy reign greatly improved the church 
and the monastery. By the donations of successive sovereigns, and the legacies of 
wealthy subjects, this abbey became one of the richest establishments in Italy, and 
the monks of Saint Martin's were celebrated for their munificence, hospitality, and 
luxurious mode of living. In the Terra di Lavora alone, we have seen an almost 
incredible number of the finest farms and estates that once belonged to their house; 
but besides these they had property in nearly every other part of the kingdom. The 
popular notions about monastic luxury in the good old times, and about jocund ab- 
bots " rosy as their wine," which are misconceptions if applied too generally, seemg 
that many of the monastic orders were always poor, and of necessity abstemious, 
would, we fancy, be correct enough with reference to the carthusians of this princely 
house. Many persons are yet alive who remember their pomp and state, and their 
glorious revellings, in which some of those persons have often partaken. But a 
mighty change, at which the very walls of the abbey might be astonished, has taken 
place there. The spacious building has been converted into a military hospital, and 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 381 

its beautiful, marble-paved, oriental-looking courts, its long, echoing corridors, are 
filled with moping invalids : — 

" Now the bell 
Calls sickly soldiers to their scanty dinner ; 
And now through hall, refectory, and cell, 
Glide slowly forms much sadder and much thinner. 
— Oh ! for the good old times — for them the Friar's dinner !" 

The estates were sequestered shortly after the French revolution, and King Ferdi- 
nand even deprived the monks of their church-plate and jewels. After the French 
conquest in 1806, the order, in common with all others that were wealthy, was sup- 
pressed, and the members of it, who had lived in luxury, and fed sumptuously every 
day, were turned loose on the world to starve on a pension of about fifty dollars per 
annum, which in most cases was very irregularly paid. The church is, Jiowever, 
still rich in works of art, and in beautiful and rare stones. Agate, amethyst, lapis- 
lazuli, sardonyx, chalcedony, and giallo antico, are profusely lavished on the high 
altar. The twelve apostles, painted by Spagnoletto in his grandest manner, give 
sublimity to the nave; and the side-chapels offer fine specimens of Luca Giordani, 
II Calabrese, and other masters; But the great attraction, the capital feature, in tins 
way, is a crucifixion by Spagnoletto, which is most advantageously placed at the 
end of a long tiring-room, off the church. This large and truly-sublime picture has 
not attracted all the attention it merits. We have passed, at different times, many 
hours before it, and can hardly remember anything more solemn and impressive— 
any picture where force of expression, or the magical power of chiaro ^scuro, has 
been carried further. 

From the windows of the extensive abbey, and from the terraces in front of it, the 
prospect, which includes a bird's-eye view of the vast and curious city of Naples, is 
one of the finest that can be anywhere found on the face of this beautiful and varied 
earth. 

The ancients knew how to appreciate the enchantments of this city, and fables 
told of a temple and grave of a siren named Parthenope, situated here ; but the 
fable and the name only denote the charms of this Eldorado. The Neapolitan is 
still proud of his country ; he calls it a piece of heaven fallen upon the eartb, or ex- 
claims, with patriotic ardor, "See Naples and die." And indeed, hw regions pos- 
sess so many advantages. The air is mild, balmy, and salubrious ; the heat of sum- 
mer, except when the sirocco blows, is tempered by the cooling influences of the 
sea, whose azure mirror attracts and delights the eye, while its bosom affords a 
bounteous variety of fish ; the fields are decked with grain and vines, which 
wind picturesquely around the elms and noble fruit-trees. The most spacious and 
magnificent of all the streets, the Toledo, resembles a perpetual fair, and the pas- 
senger must be. cautious to avoid being run over by the corricoli, or one-horse vehi- 
cles, which dart by with the rapidity of lightning. The harbor, which, however, is 
not very large, swarms with vessels from all quarters of the globe ; and the pier, or 
mole, is always crowded with men, who are either pursuing their business, or are 
idly assembled around the booth of a pulcinello, or around a juggler, or minstrel 
and improvisatore. 

The fashionable world, especially in. the evening, fill the streets, which stretch 
along the sea, and are adorned with stately palaces, with their superb equipages. 
Close to the shore is the Villa Reale, a royal garden, containing the celebrated group 
of the Farnese bull. The prospect over the bay, to Vesuvius, and the coasts of Sor- 
reto, is unique. But it is only nature and the activity of its present, with the various 
memorials of its past existence, that makes Naples and its environs so enchanting. 
The reflecting traveller, after having contemplated, in Florence and Rome, the won- 
ders of jfrt, and the monuments of proud times that are gone, great even in their 
ruins, finds in Naples little to gratify, and much to offend his taste for the beauties of 
art. The luxuriance of nature seems to have been communicated to the style of art, 
and given it a character of exaggeration. This is true of the architecture, with the 
exception of the office of finance, in the street called Toledo. The evidences of 
importance in Naples betray bad taste, in excess of ornament and unsuitable addi- 
tions, or bear the stamp of insignificance in their baldness and uniformity. Statuary 
and painting are in no better condition. Music has been more successfully culti- 
vated. Those ornaments of Rome — obelisks and fountains — appear here only in 
miserable imitations. Even the public inscriptions, particularly those of the time 



382 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

of the Spanish dominion, are written in a style of oriental bombast. Among the one 
hundred and twenty-two churches (none of which are distinguished for their archi- 
tecture), the one hundred and thirty chapels, and one hundred and forty-nine monas- 
teries, that of St. Januarius, or the cathedral, is the principal. It was built in 1299, 
from the designs of Niccolo Pisano ; but the Neapolitans have endeavored to destroy, 
as much as possible, its Gothic character. The body of the saint reposes in a sub- 
terranean chapel, under the choir. His blood is kept in the splendid chapel of the 
treasure, adorned by four altar-pieces, from the pencil of Domenichino. II Gesu 
Nuovo is considered the handsomest church in Naples ; at least, it has the best 
dome, though it is overcharged with unmeaning ornament. The church of the rich 
convent of St. Chiara resembles a dancing-hall, rather than a temple ; it formerly 
contained some frescoes by Giono. St. Domenico is large ; St. Filippo Neri, rich in 
marble and pamtings; St. Paolo Maggiore shows on its front the remains of an 
ancient temple of Castor and Pollux ; St. Apostoli is admired ; small, but hallowed 
by the tomb of Sanazzaro, is the church of St. Maria del Parto in Mergellina, 
founded by him. The Carthusian monastery, St. Martino, situated on a hill, under 
the castle of St. Elmo, enjoys a most delightful prospect, and is, at present, the bar- 
raclis of the invalids. The whole structure is superb, and the church is ornamented 
with peculiar richness. 

Among the edifices, the royal palace is distinguished above the rest for its archi- 
tecture ; the place where it is situate is one of the greatest ornaments of Naples. 
Another royal palace at Capo di Monti, is unfinished, but contains many paintings, 
and other works of art. The ancient residence of the viceroys of Naples, La 
Vicaria, has been appropriated to the accommodation of several tribunals, and, in 
part, converted into prisons. Among the other palaces are the Maddalone, Franca- 
villa, Gravina, Tarsia, which last has a considerable library open to the public. 
The most important collections in the arts and scieupes are contained in the building 
of the academy Degli Studi, or what we may call the national museum. In many 
respects, this magnificent establishment is unrivalled in the world. Besides a rich 
statue-gallery, which boasts the Farnesian Hercules, the all-perfect Aristides, the 
Farnesian Toro, a Venus, perhaps superior in loveliness to the Medicean, and other 
masterpieces of ancient Greek art, the museum contains a gallery of pictures, with 
two of Raphael's best works, and splendid specimens of Titian, Correggio, Claude, 
Salvator Rosa, and other great masters ; and moreover, a library, a collection of 
Etruscan vases, a cabinet of ancient coins and medals, and rooms filled with tlie 
ancient relics of Herculaneum and Pompeii. 

The collection of vases, which have nearly all been discovered and dug up in the 
kingdom, is the richest in existence ; but it is more especially the collection of the 
objects rescued from the two interred cities, that gives the museum of Naples its 
superiority to others. 

In this collection are found some of the most perfect works of ancient art in bronze, 
domestic implements of nearly every sort, mechanical tools, surgical and mathemat- 
ical instruments, rings, necklaces, and other specimens of jewelry, and even the 
entire apparatus of a woman's toilet. The attentive visiter, by studying these 
objects, may in a few hours obtain a better insight into the domestic manners of the 
ancients, than whole years devoted to books can give him. One of the most inter- 
esting departments of this unique collection is that of the papyri, or manuscripts, 
discovered in the excavations of Herculaneum, The ancients did not bind their 
books (which, of course, were all manuscripts) like us, but rolled them up in scrolls. 
When these of Herculaneum were discovered, they presented, as they still do, the 
appearance of burnt sticks, or cylindrical pieces of charcoal, which they had 
acquired from the action of the heat contained in the lava that buried the whole 
city. They seem quite solid both to the eye and touch, yet an ingenious monk dis- 
covered a process of detaching leaf from leaf, and unrolling them, by which they 
could be read without much difficulty. When these manuscripts were first exposed 
to the air, a considerable number of them crumbled to dust. The late Sir Humphrey 
Davy destroyed the integrity of a few by making unsuccessful experiments, which 
he fancied might produce a result that would supersede the slow and laborious pro- 
cess now adopted ; but about eighteen hundred still remain. Four of them have 
been unrolled, and facsimilies of them, with translations, published by the Neapol- 
itan government. 

To pass to a very different object. One of the singularities of Naples is its 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



383 




384 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Campo Santo, or cemetery for the poor. This is situated on the skirts of the town, 
looking toward Mount Vesuvius. A wall of inconsiderable elevation encloses a 
quadrangular space, whose surface is cut into three hundred and sixty-five holes, 
like the mouths of wells, or cisterns. One of these holes is opened every day ; the 
dead bodies of the poor of that day, without coffins, without so much as a rag about 
them, are thrown one upon another, as they arrive, through the mouth, into a deep 
cave below, cut in the tufa rock, and at night a stone is laid over the horrid sepulchre, 
and -secured by cement. The next day the cave next in order of date is opened, and 
so on through the year. At the end of the year, ihe first cave is again opened, by 
which lime its contents, the decomposition of which is assisted by quicklime, are 
reduced to little more than bones. 

The university, founded in 1224, is of some consequence as a building, but of little 
note as a place of education. It contains several good collections ; for instance, a 
mineralogical cabinet. The botanical garden is gradually improving. There is 
also an observatory, a royal medical college, a military school, a naval college, an 
academy of agriculture, manufacture^ and arts, a college for the instruction of 
Chinese and Japanese youth, two Jesuit colleges, &c.,and a royal society of sciences. 

The number of benevolent institutions is above sixty. Among them are two large 
hospitals: Degli Incurabili (where, however, sick of all kinds are received), and Delia 
Santissima Annunziata, which is very rich, and receives and provides for foundlings, 
penitent females, &c. There are five other hospitals, many religious fraternities, and 
several conservatories, which last were long famous as the seminaries of music for 
all Europe. The Albergo dei Poveri, with a school of mutual instruction for four 
hundred children, is one of the greatest buildings of the kind in Naples, and amuse- 
ment is the general aim. For the idle populace, there is no want of entertainment, 
pulcinelloes, music, maccaroni, and room to sleep. For the better classes, there are 
four theatres, of which the largest, St. Carlo, was burnt in 1816, but has been splen- 
didly rebuilt. Besides this theatre, there are the Teatro Nuovo, de' Fiorentini, and 
St. Carlino. 

In respect to music and representation, they hardly reach mediocrity ; but the bal- 
let is magnificent. The nobles are opulent and fond of parade ; the citizens are thri- 
ving ; and the lowest class (thelazzaroni) are in general so temperate, that, from the 
cheapness of provisions, they can live with the least pittance, got by work or beg- 
ging, and reserve something for the diver timenti on the mole ; and, if they have no 
other shelter, trust to the mildness of the climate, and spend the night under the 
portico of the palace or a church. 

Compared with the number of inhabitants, the manufactures are unimportant ; the 
artisans have little skill. The furniture made in Naples is clumsy. The best jew- 
ellers, tailors, and shoemakers, are foreigners; the best traiteurs, Milanese. From 
the situation of the city, its commerce might be extensive. The bank of the Two 
Sicilies has a capital of one million ducats. Female beauty is rare in Naples, but 
the men are vigorous and well formed, especially at the age of iriaturity. In literary 
cultivation, the Neapolitans are altogether behind the other Italians, though they 
have many celebrated names. 

The character of the people is not so serious as many travellers have represented 
it. There is much good-humor and cordiality, and a temperance worthy of imita- 
tion, among them ; with all their violence, murders are seldom heard of. The im- 
morality is not more than that of other great continental cities ; and the love of idle- 
ness and pleasure has in some measure its foundation and excuse in the nature of the 
climate. The costume of the upper classes does not differ materially from that worn 
by the natives of the rest of Italy, and we select for illustration (p. 386) an armed 
peasant and his wife, the latter engaged in the manufacture of flax. 

One of the most useful persons in Naples is the letter-writer. These humble yet 
important functionaries — for in no condition of society can the faculty of carrying on 
a correspondence of affection or of business by means of letters be considered other- 
wise than important — do not, generally speaking, occupy either shop or stall, but 
ply their labors in the open air. Their portable establishment, or stock in trade, 
consists of an old rickety table, with sometimes a desk upon it, two low stools (one 
for the writer, the other for the customer), a few sheets of paper, some pens, a pen- 
knife made like a razor and almost as big, a still more oddly-shaped inkhorn, and a 
pair of spectacles, either to aid their sight or to givt a grave look. Thus furnished, 
they sit through the day, generally near to the postoffice, either despatching business 



, CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



385 




386 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




Neapolitan Feasants. 

or waiting for it. The variety of subjects they have to discuss is of course almost in- 
finite ; but as people are never more inclined to write than when they are in love, 
and as the poor Italians are a very loving and (be it said to their honor, and the 
shame of their rich and noble countrymen) a very virtuous people, these scribes have 
perhaps love-letters to write more frequently than any other kind of epistle. 

The grave, dignified, and sagacious-looking old man represented in our engraving, 
is engaged on that tender subject, which contrasts singularly with his years, his long 
white beard, and wrinkled appearance. The fair contadina,* kneeling by the side 
of his table, has placed upon it an open letter, in the corner of which we read the 
endearing words " anima mia," or " my soul," and it is doubtless to this she is dic- 
tating an answer, counting the periods, in true Italian fashion, on her fingers, while 
the venerable scribe is mending his pen and catching his theme previously to begin- 
ning his flourish. 

To all travellers, or investigators of popular manners and feelings, we would rec- 
ommend the stalls of the public letter-writers at Naples, where, owing to the people 
being still less educated than in the states of the pope, and the population being more 
than double that of Rome, they abound much more than in the " eternal city." la 
a vico, or lane, by the side of the postoflSce at Naples, they generally " plant the 
desk," as they are at hand not only to write answers, but to read the letters as they 
arrive — for the accomplishment of reading is almost as rare as that of writing among 
the poor Neapolitans. There, close to the iron-grated windows of the postoffice 
through which the letters are delivered, the patient scrivani sit from eight o'clock 
in the morning till the dusk of evening. In the lane there is an archway, some few 
yards in length, formed by a building that permits a passage beneath ; and here part 
of them draw their tables to be protected from the scorching rays of the sun in sum- 
mer, and partially from the cold in winter. Those who can not avail themselves of 
this shelter fit out a piece of sail-cloth or canvass above their tables when the day is 
very hot. In winter (and there are many cold wintry days even at Naples), they 
wrap themselves in tough old tabarri or cloaks, and furnish themselves each with a 
little earthern pot of ignited charcoal, the whole fuel of which might very well be 
contained in a soup-ladle. 

As their customers are, of course, confined to the poorest classes — to soldiers and 

sailors — their wives or sweethearts — to sheep-drivers from Apulia or buffalo-herds 

from Calabria — to servant-maids, nurses, and such sort of people — their calling, it 

. will naturally be supposed, is not a very lucrative one. For a letter of ordinary 

length their charge is about five Neapolitan grant, or five cents ; but this is propor- 

* Country girl or peasant. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 387 

tionably increased to ten or even to fifteen grani ; while, for petitions to the king or 
government, which they also write, and which the poor, sanguine Neapolitans are 
fond of sending in, though it does not appear they get much by the practice, they 
charge as much as two or three carlini (or thirty cents). Yet with these trifling 
gains the scrivani contrive to live, and, for the most part, to keep a family. They 
eat their macaroni when they have had a good day's work ; and now and then drive 
about in a corribolo or a calesso on holydays. 

The Canta-Storia. — The molo of Naples is a strong, well-constructed stone pier, 
jutting far into the sea, giving security to the harbor, and having at its extremity a 
goodly lighthouse. In the warm seasons of the year (that is to say, for nearly seven 
months out of the twelve) it is the favorite promenade and lounging-place of the Nea- 
politan bourgeoisie and pooi-er classes of citizens, who are but too happy to escape 
from the hot, pent-up air of their narrow and tortuous streets and lanes. On the 
molo they c^n hear the cooling plash of the sea upon the rocks, and inhale the pure 
evening air. And, as if this were not pleasure and bliss enough, under that glorious 
sky, and with the fairest view upon earth spread before and around, hither resort 
singers and conjurers, mountebanks and improvisatori, men with learned pigs, and 
men with dogs that can tell fortunes, to afford amusement to the promenaders and 
loungers. The vividness of our impressions, which lays the whole scene before our 
eyes, makes us use the present tense when we ought rather to use the past. We are 
told that the busy and merry molo has been almost ungarnished, of late years, of the 
men and things which made its merriment ; and that a police far more ruthless than 
that which sometimes wages war against Punch, has swept away Policinella, 
Canta-Storia, Ciarlatano, pig and dog, together with every other object that used to 
raise a boisterous laugh. But we can only think of the molo as it was in its pristine 
glory, and when, as Forsyth observed, it was an epitome of the town, exhibiting the 
most of its humors — a theatre where any stranger might study, for nothing, the man- 
ners of the people. For mixed fun, it was assuredly the richest theatre in the world. 
With the very few strangers who thoroughly understood the rich Neapolitan patois, 
nothing in Naples could rival it except the theatre of San Carlino, or the Little St 
Charles, on the nights when the great living Policinella was in full force and playing 
one of his best pieces, such as " The Ninety-nine Misfortunes of Punch," or "Punch 
and the Man of Biscegla." 

The canta-storia, literally the story-singer or history-singer, is one that sings some 
tale or romance in rhyme, in a sort of measured recitativo style, to the accompani- 
ment of a raandolina or guitar, which'is played sometimes by himself and sometimes 
by an assistant. The greatest professor in this line that we knew — the man that was 
called par excellence, in their idiom, lo canta-storia in ^ccoppoo molo — never played 
himself, being somewhat lamed and maimed, and needing the only arm and hand he 
could use for his gesticulations and explanations. He was a short, lean, wizened 
old man, with an enormous three-cornered hat on his head, and with nose and eyes 
like those of a hawk. For fluency of speech, and for smart and sharp repartee, it 
was a wondrous old creature. Some complained that his voice was cracked, and his 
singing not what it had been ; but all confessed that for explaining a diflacult pas- 
sage, and making flowery poetry intelligible in plain prose, there was none like him. 
He ought to have been a commentator, for, in his own way, he could explain every- 
thing, allowing no obscurity or difficulty whatsoever to stand in his way, and never 
seeming to entertain a doubt as to the correctness of his illustrations. The only 
story-singer that rivalled his fame was a handsome, well-made mariner, with a clear 
and resonant voice ; but though people, particularly the women, loved to listen to 
his singing and to his mandolina, they preferred going to the elder for the commen- 
taries and gloses. 

The stories thus sung to the sailors and poor citizens of Naples were almost inva- 
riably about the battles and loves of their great national idol, the crusading Rinaldo, 
as described by Tasso in his "Jerusalem Delivered." To have recited Tasso in his 
pure and exquisitely refined Italian would have been to throw away time and labor, 
as very few of the auditory would have understood it. But the old canta-storia had 
a Tasso of his own, all turned into Neapolitan language and rhyme — or rather he 
had a rifacciamento, dressed up in his vernacular, of all the cantos and stanzas which 
referred to the exploits and adventures of the national hero, and from which were 
dismissed, as unworthy of any notice, the pious Godfrey, the hero of the Epic, the 
bold Tancred, and all the other Christian heroes of Tasso. The popular admiration 



388 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

for Rinaldo amounted to a passion, to an enthusiasm of the most unaffected and ar- 
dent kind. When the old minstrel would sing how the Christian hero with one cut 
of the sword or one thrust of the lance slew a score of pagans or put thousands upon 
thousands to the rout, there would be a shout of" Eh ! viva Rinaldo nuostro ! — Long 
live our Rinaldo !" When the tone and story changed — when the sage old man in 
the three-cornered hat would represent the hero in some disastrous adventure ex- 
posed to the malice of witches and magicians, and beset by a host of cruel pagan 
foes, tears would stand in the eyes of many of the listeners, or now and then drop 
from them, like large summer rain-drops, upon the hard flags which paved the 
molo ; and there would be a muttering of wo, as if a real and visible calamity had 
befallen some dear relative or friend : " Ah ! povero Rinaldo ! Ajutati Dio — Ah ! 
Streghe maledette, Saraceni infami, il diavolo vi aiird tutti .' — Ah ! poor Rinaldo, 
may God help thee ! Ah ! cursed witches, infamous Saracens, the devil will have 
ye all!" 

Not only these poor fellows appeared to have no doubt as to the real existence of 
Rinaldo, or the authenticity of the moving adventures they were listening to, but 
they also seemed to feel as though Rinaldo were still living and actually engaged in 
his dolorous misadventures — there I right before their eyes, yet where they could not 
reach him or give him help. We have seen the magic of the stage as exercised by 
Kean ; but we never saw people so carried out of themselves and the material exist- 
ing world around them by that great actor and the spell of the greatest of poets 
whose characters and creations he was imbodying, as we have seen the poor Nea- 
politans wrapped and transported by the rude verses monotonously chanted by that 
wizen old man in the three-cornered hat. 

In those days, before the glories of the molo had begun to depart, there were some 
sets of men, for the most part young, and mariners or fishermen, who were called 
gli appassionaii di Rinaldo, or the impassioned or enthusiasts for that hero and 
darling. 

Evening after evening, week after week, these fellows would gather round the 
canta-storia, and devour his strains with an avidity of appetite, and an earnestness 
of expression on every countenance, which proved how much they relished what 
he sang. Fine athletic fellows were some of them, and sun-browned the faces, long 
and black the hair, and black and flashing the eyes, of all of them. And there they 
gathered in groups round the old bard or minstrel, as the somewhat more refined 
Greeks may be supposed to have done round the itinerant Homer, some of them 
standing with their arms crossed on their almost bare chests, some sitting on the 
stones which capped the parapet of the pier, some on wooden stools, and some cross- 
legged on the pavement. In this fashion they would often staj'' from long before 
sunset of a summer evening until well on to the midnight hour, listening over and 
over again to the same parts of the story ; for the sage old man, like the professional 
story-tellers of Egypt and Turkey, never began and ended his tale on the same night, 
generally breaking off at some point where the narrative was most interesting, and 
telling his auditors that he should conclude his story on the morrow. This little ruse 
was calculated to insure the attendance of those who had been interested to-night. 
But with the appassionati — with the real enthusiasts for Rinaldo — it was scarcely 
called for : they were sure to be to-morrow night where they were to-night. By the 
setting sun or by the broad moonlight the scene was eminently picturesque and 
poetical. 

On one side of the mole, in the not oversweet harbor, lay huddled together mer- 
chant ships and coast traffickers, emitting no very savory smells ; on the other side 
were the starch, monotonous walls of the Castello Nuovo, the back of the royal 
palace, and the entrance to the arsenal ; but behind rose the fine-shaped hills of St. 
Elmo and the Vomero, the one crowned by a bold castle, the pther by a magnificent 
monastery, with a Moresque-looking face ; and behind and above these hills, and 
stretching far away, towered the heights of the Camaldoli, with another convent on 
their brow, and the heights of the Arienella, in whose white village, half hid among 
trees and tall-growing vines, was born Salvator Rosa, the fittest painter to paint the 
half-naked enthusiastic group. And then in front, or by turning a little on the molo 
so as to vary the point of sight, the eye could rest upon the broad flank and forked 
summit of Mount Vesuvius, with smoke or fire issuing from the nearer of the two 
cones ; upon the long, white walls of Castellamare, and the sublime peak of Mount 
St. Angelo behind them; upon the old town of Sorrento, standing immediately over 



• CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



389 




390 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

the sea ; upon high and perpendicular cliffs of tufo ; upon Cape Campanella, or the 
Cape of Minerva, behind which the Parthenopean syren had her abode ; upon the 
rocky and majestic Isle of Caprsea, to sojourn in which Tiberius abandoned the 
imperial city of Rome ; upon Cape Misenum, which hath borne, and bears, and ever 
shall bear, the name of the Trumpeter of -iEneas, even as Virgil predicted in his 
melodious verse, for true poets are prophets, and the names hallowed by genius are 
no longer subject to decay and transmutation ; upon the long, glittering hills of Posi- 
lippo, where Lucullus built his palace of palaces, and established his earthly para- 
dise ; and upon the grim, dark-brown old castle which the Norman conquerors of the 
south built upon a rock close in to the Neapolitan shore and the western walls of the 
city — the castle called dell' Uovo, or Egg-castle, from the shape of the rock on 
which it stands, and which it entirely covers. This is a rare scene, and overpower- 
ingly rich in associations. There is not a hill, rock, islet, cape, or jutting promon- 
tory, but has its name in classical lore or in modern song. Sorrento, which stands 
on the other side of the bay, almost directly opposite the molo, was the birthplace 
of Tasso, who first gave immortality to the Rinaldo the old minstrel sings about ; it 
was at Sorrento, among green hills and shady valleys, and glens wooded with the 
ilex, that the ardent poet passed the happy days of his childhood, which, if his 
biographers tell the truth, appear to have been almost the only happy days of his 
stormy existence ; and it was to Sorrento, and to the tenderness of a surviving sister, 
that the poet fled, poor, lonely, ai:'d on foot, when sovereign princes, and princes of 
the Roman church, had forsaken him and persecuted him, and when terror and long- 
suffering had well nigh made him in reality that maniac which his enemies, long 
before, had accused him of being, and under the dark imputation of which, he had 
lain for long years in the dungeon of the ungrateful Esti, at Ferrara. 

The canta-storia's version of Tasso's great poem, in the Neapolitan dialect, was 
far from being so elegant or so close to the original as was the Venetian version 
which was at one time commonly sung by the gondoliers of the queen of the Adri- 
atic. If much that Tasso wrote was omitted, much, also, was added by the canta- 
storia, which the poet never wrote or dreamed of. These Neapolitan interpolations 
and addenda were extravagant to the utmost verge of extravagance, and not unfre- 
quently grotesque, in the eyes of those who knew the original, and had a more culti- 
vated taste than the mariners on the molo. But to these poor fellows nothing could 
be finer, or grander, or in any sense belter, than what they heard sung or chanted in 
their own expressive dialect, by the wizened old man, or by the handsome and gal- 
liard young man. The apassionati, or enthusiasts, would have fought any man that 
had adventured to dispute the pre-eminence of Rinaldo over all the heroes of Tasso's 
epic, or rather over all the heroes that figured in the holy wars, or any other wars. 
This temper was once put to the test. A foreigner, familiar with their language and 
habits, began one evening to decry their idol-hero. Rinaldo, he said, was a stout 
and daring man, a very stout and daring man (mw' guappo, un guappone), but there 
had been men as brave as he, or braver, Taacred, to wit, who was also their own 
countryman ; and there had been wiser, and better, and greater men, like the Cap- 
tain-General Godfrey. The faces of the enthusiasts blackened with rage, and their 
eyes shot flashes of fire. The stranger, apprehending mischief to himself, pru- 
dently dropped his odious comparisons, and said he had but joked. " Va bene lo 
schierzo" said one of the group, " ma, con Rinaldo nuostro non si schierza'''' — Jokes 
are very well, but there must be no joking with our Rinaldo. No honest Swiss ever 
stood up more boldly for the fame of William Tell, or fiery Scot for the glory of 
William Wallace, or of the Bruce, than that tattered mariner would have done for 
the fabulous renown of Ptinaldo. 

The boisterous, gay-hearted people of Naples are almost as much addicted to dri- 
ving about in any sort of vehicle that can carry them, as they are to eating maca- 
roni. The stranger, on his arrival at their city, can not but be surprised at the 
immense number of carriages that dash through the town in all directions, nor fail 
to be puzzled in reconciling the extent of this luxury with the means of a ruined 
nobility, and a generally-impoverished country. 

The fact, however, is, that almost every Neapolitan who pretends to anything like 
the rank of a gentleman, considers some sort of equipage as an indispensable appen- 
dage, to support which he will miserably pinch himself in other points of domestic 
economy. Added to this, there are no taxes on carriages and horses ; the trades 
people and others, who will never walk when they can afford to pay for a ride, par- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. • 391 

ticularly ou a holyday (and besides the Sundays there is some holyday or saint's- 
day at least every fortnight, on an average), contribute to the support of an amazing 
number of hackney-coaches and cabriolets ; and the very poorest of the people are 
as passionately fond of driving as their betters, and do contrive, by clubbing to- 
gether, to indulge in that luxury on frequent occasions. It may thus be under- 
stood how Naples is more crowded with vehicles than any other of the European 
capitals. 

These vehicles are in almost every possible fashion and state of preservation. 
The richer or more tasteful classes drive carriages which would bear comparison 
with thdfee of New York, and are, generally, superior to any display of the sort made 
at Paris. The Neapolitans, indeed, with the exception of the Milanese^ surpass all 
the Italians in coach-building and taste in a " turn-out;" and though you certainly 
see some of the worst, you also see some of the best equipages in Italy at Naples. 
But what produces an amusing effect is, that you constantly see the extremes of good 
and bad at the same instant. Most of the stylish, and all the more common part of 
this complicated machinery of communication, proceed along the streets at a violent 
pace ; and as these streets are all paved with large pieces of lava, not always well 
joined together, and as the inferior and infinitely more numerous portion of the equi- 
pages rattle fearfully as they go, the clamor produced might be thought almost the 
perfection of noise, were it not so frequently drowned by the shouts of the motley 
drivers, and the bawling of the fares, and of the foot-passengers. 

It would be doing an injustice to the Neapolitans, not to mention that, though they 
set about it in a slovenly way, and generally use harness that would reduce our best 
" whips" to despair, they drive both fearlessly and well, and are very rarely the 
cause of any accident, even in the crowded, confused, narrow streets of the capital. 
In former times there used to be grand displays of driving at the end of carnival and 
beginning of Lent ; and many of the great families had numerous and excellent 
studs, and bred horses of great spirit and beauty. Though these establishments for 
horses are entirely broken up, the common breed of the kingdom is generally 
far from bad ; while many parts of Calabria, and some districts of Apulia and 
Abruzzi, still furnish excellent animals. The Neapolitan horse is small, but very 
compact and strong ; his neck is short and bull-shaped, and his head rather large ; 
he is, in short, the prototype of the horse of the ancient basso-relievoes and other 
Roman sculptures found in the country. He can live on hard fare, and is capable of 
an immense deal of work ; he is frequently headstrong and vicious, but these defects 
are mainly attributable to harsh treatment, as, with proper, gentle usage, though 
very spirited, he is generally found to be docile and good-natured. The Neapolitan 
cavalry, composed almost entirely of these small horses, bred under the burning sun 
of the south of Italy, withstood the rigors of winter in the memorable Ptussian cam- 
paign, better than almost all the others ; and it is a curious fact, that during part of 
his retreat from Moscow, Napoleon owed his preservation to a body of three hundred 
Neapolitan horse, who were still mounted, and in a state to escort him. 

Without paying attention to numerous minor varieties, the hack-vehicles of the 
Neapolitans may be divided into four great classes: — 

1st. The Carozza d'Affitto, or Canestra, or Carettella. — This answers fo our hack- 
ney-coach, but is generally a much more decent carriage, and not close, but open, 
with a head which can be raised or lowered. It is always drawn by two horses. 
The decent class of citizens are its greatest customers; but on holydays it is fre- 
quently found crammed full of washerwomen and porters. 

2d. The Corriholo. — This answers to our hack-cab, but is a much lighter and more 
elegant machine. A light body, capable of holding two passengers, is suspended on 
springs ; one tough little horse runs in the shafts, and the driver sits on the shafts 
just before his passengers. The body and wheels of the corribolo are always painted 
and varnished, as are also those of the canestra ; the horse of the one, and the horses 
of the other, are, moreover, generally put to with leather harness. This little gig is 
invariably driven with great rapidity, and is a pleasant enough, but somewhat per- 
ilous conveyance. The corribolo is in great request with the men of the middling 
classes, and on holydays with both men and women of the poorer class. It is also a 
very great favorite with English midshipmen and sailors, who like to go fast. The 
number of this species of vehicle is truly extraordinary, as is also the manner in which 
they dart about ; and it was to the corriboli that Alfieri more particularly referred 



392 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

(for the other kinds of chaises are not near so abundant), when, in describing Nap-.es, 
he spoke of — 

" All the gay gigs that flash like lightning there." 

3d. The Flower-Pot Calesso. — This is truly a Neapolitan machine, which can be 
compared to nothing we possess. The body, like a section of a large flower-pot, or 
inverted cone cut perpendicularly in two, and hollowed out, is fastened to the wooden 
axle-tree, Avhich has no iron, but terminates in two wooden arms on which the wheels 
revolve. The horse is very loosely harnessed between the shafts; one or, J^yhard 
squeezing, two passengers occupy the seat, whose entire weight rests on the axle, 
and only the«vvei§iht of the shafts on the horse ; then the driver leaps upon a narrow 
footboard behind his passengers, and grasping his reins, and flourishing his whip 
over their heads, sets o3" at speed, his weight acting as on a lever, of which the axle- 
tree is the fulcrum, bringing down the hinder part of the vehicle, and making the 
shafts ascend at a very ambitious angle, their extreme points being often higher than 
the horse's head. Sometimes a second passenger will jump up behind, but care must 
be taken not to overload the driver's end of the lever without placing a counterbal- 
ance before, for, in that case, the belly-band, on which is all the pressure, would act 
unpleasantly on the horse, or even lift him ofi" his feet. If, as frequently happens, a 
second horse is tied by the side of the other, outside the shafts, this flower-pot will 
travel at a tremendous rate, for the machine itself, made entirely of wood, is very 
light, and the weight of the passengers and driver, if properly disposed, acts very 
slightly on the shaft-horse, who, like the comrade by his side, has only to pull. 

When new, this particular vehicle is frequently very smart, and even gaudy, the 
wooden body being painted with flowers and coarsely gilt, the shafts and wheels as 
dazzling as bright red, yellow, or green, can make them, and even parts of the shaft- 
horse's harness covered with gilding, very much like what is pui on our gingerbread 
nuts. Unfortunately, however, as the Neapolitans choose gaudy rather than lasting 
tints, and as their colors are badly laid on, and the gilding most inartificially applied, 
their calessi soon look very shabby. 

4th. II Calesso. — We are now come to the vehicle represented by the engraving 
opposite. This is decidedly the popular machine, the carriage of the people. 
Though not so stylish, or so fast, it has a great advantage over the "flower-pot," and 
the " corribolo," for it can carry many more passengers. With som.e ingenuity and 
sacrifice of comfort, a corribolo may be made to carry four and the driver, and so in- 
deed may a flower-pot ; but the calesso has the capacity, on a pinch, of accommo- 
dating a round dozen. 

So far from being a rare, it is a common thing, to see a rickety machine of the 
sort thus heavily laden : three men and women on the seat, and two or three more 
on their laps, or at their feet at the bottom of the chaise, witJi some of their legs 
dangling out in front of the wheels ; three more hanging on behind, a boy or sturdy 
lazzarone seated on the shafts, and a couple of little children bestowed in a net fast- 
ened to the axle-tree, and dangling between the nether part of the calesso and the 
ground — these constitute the loading of the calesso. To all of these must be added 
the driver. He either stands up erect with the passengers behind the vehicle, hold- 
ing the reins and flourishing his whip over the heads of those who are seated within 
it, or shortening the reins, places himself on the shafts close to the horse's croup, and 
there drives away, with his legs dependent from the shafis. The very oddest of all 
the odd circumstances attaching to the calesso are ceriainly the exhibition of so many 
legs dangling from it, and the net with the young ones beneath. Accidents, of course, 
occur now and then. The writer of this v/as going one morning on horseback from 
Castellamare to Pompeii, when he was stopped near a catina, or winehouse, by the 
roadside, by hearing the most dreadful shrieks. As he approached the spot, he saw 
a calesso turn and drive back at speed, and, on getting still nearer, saw a female 
peasant dressed in her gala clothes, who was tearing her hair and beating her bosom 
in a fearful manner. What was the matter ? The calesso, crowded as usual on such 
occasions, was going to a festa or fair at the town of Nocera de'Pagani, and on stop- 
ping at that winehouse to refresh, it was discovered that the net below with a little 
boy in it was missing. The rope that held it had given way, and as the festive party 
were probably (as is usual with them when exhilarated by riding) all singing at the 
tops of their voices, the cries of the child were never heard. The afflicted mother 
was sure the guaglionciello (Neapolitan for the Italian " ragazzino," English " little 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



393 




394 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

boy") was killed ; but presently a joyful shout was heard along the road, and the 
calesso, returning in company with another vehicle of the same character, and simi- 
larly loaded, brought back the little urchin, covered, indeed, and almost choked with 
dust, but otherwise safe and sound. 

This calesso is generally drawn by two horses, one between the shafts and the 
other outside of them. These are harnessed in the rudest manner with ropes and 
string, scarcely an inch of leather being visible. The great inconvenience attending 
travelling in it is, that the driver is apt to be obliged to stop and get down every 
quarter of an hour to splice a rope, or to make all right with a bit of twine. The 
capacious body of this calesso is all made of wood. It is generally furnished wilh a 
hood of untanned hide, which can be brought over the heads of " the insides ;" but 
it has no springs beneath, being merely slung on braces that are sometimes made of 
leather. The driver of a vehicle of this sort is almost invariably a fellow of loquacity 
and humor, and the best of all sources lo go to for notions of the popular habits and 
feelings of the country. This mainly arises from his considering it part of his duty 
to amuse his passengers. 

The true time to see these popular vehicles in all their glory is, of course, on some 
grand festival in the city of Naples. In the simple marriage contracts of the female 
peasantry, there are positive clauses inserted that their husbands shall take them to 
such and such feste in the course of the year. Consequently, when Naples is the 
scene of the festival, in they come flocking from all parts, every family or set of 
friends that can afford it driving away in a calesso. These vehicles, when they have 
been any time in use, are still shabbier than the tarnished " flower-pots ;" but orna- 
mented as they are on some of the holydays with branches and boughs of trees, with 
flowers, or with clustering nuts, and in all with the gay-colored dresses of their occu- 
pants, they look sufficiently gay and pleasing. 

It has been mentioned that the Neapolitans like to drive very fast, and to sing very 
loudly while they ride. It is, indeed, too much for the nerves of a sensitive person 
to see on these occasions how canestre, corriboli, flower-pots, and calessi, gallop along 
over the hard, slippery pavement of the streets, racing with each other, and to hear. 
how their passengers contend in making the greatest noise in bawling, and singing, 
and beating tambourines, while their respective drivers at the same time crack their 
rude rope whips in concert. 

Naples, which has produced some of the finest composers in the world, has been 
called " the land of song;" and such it is, if the good taste and exquisite feeling for 
music of all classes above the very lowest be alone taken into account. But the pop- 
ular taste is execrable. The very worst street-ballad that was ever sung by a beg- 
gar, or ground on an organ, is a delicious melody, compared to the roaring, shriek- 
ing, and, at the same time, droning, whining notes of the lazzarone, or paesano 
(peasant, or countryman), whose favorite songs, executed in their favorite manner, 
would frighten a war-horse. 




Bacchante taming a Centaar. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 395 



CHAPTER XVI.— ITALY. 

The environs of Naples are full of interest and beauty. On the road to Baise the 
fraveller passes the tomb of Virgil. This ancient Roman tomb is situated on the hill 
of Posilippo, at a short distance from Naples. On leaving that city by its wesiern 
suburb, La Chiaja, a walk of a few minutes brings the tourist to a detached quarter, 
called La Margellina, where he quits the shore of the beautiful bay, and turning to 
the right, ascends the vine-covered "hill of Posilippo by a very steep and winding 
road. About midway up the hill, a "rustic gate admits him into a vineyard and gar- 
den, which terminate in one direction at the edge of a steep cliflF. On the very brink 
of this precipice, and immediately above the entrance to the subterraneous road or 
tunnel of Posilippo, stands the ruined tomb of Virgil, overshadowed by trees that 
have their roots in some rocks that flank it. The tomb is a small square building, 
with a rounded roof, having little to distinguish it from the ancient edifices of the 
same kind that abound in the neighborhood, except its name and the singularity of 
its position. The old entrance has been enlarged, and there is a modern window cut 
through the wall which admits of a curious view of the chasm that forms the ap- 
proach to the tunnel, or, as it is called in the country, the grotto of Posilippo. Inter- 
nally this tomb is a vaulted cell, about twelve feet square, having many columbaria, 
or small recesses in the side walls, made to receive urns. No urns, however, nor 
vestiges of them, flo sarcophagus, nor any inscription (really ancient), remain here, 
nor are the stories told of the preservation until the sixteenth century, and then the 
removal of the very urn that contained the great poet's ashes, at all satisfactory. 
According to one account, the urn, standing in the middle of the sepulchre, supported 
by nine small marble pillars, with an inscription on the frieze, was here as late as 
1526, and frequently visited by the lovers of letters; but, it is added, in the course 
of the wars and invasions of the kingdom that soon followed, the Neapolitan govern- 
ment, fearing such precious relics should be carried off or destroyed, caused them to 
be removed from the tomb to the fortress called Castel Nuovo, where they were lost. 
Another statement is, that at the earnest suit of the cardinal of Mantua, who was 
anxious to enrich with the poet's remains the city where the poet was born, the gov- 
ernment gave the urn, the pillars, and some small statues that had stood in the tomb, 
to the Mantuans, and that the cardinal, on his way home with them, fell sick and 
died at Genoa, upon which the treasures were scattered and lost there. Another 
account again is, that the monks of the neighboring convent of Mergellina removed 
the urn and its accessories from the tomb, and that they, and not the government, 
made a present of them to the cardinal of Mantua, on whose sudden death at Genoa 
they were lost. The epitaph reported to have been inscribed on the urn is the well- 
known distich — 

" Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc 
Parthenope : cecini pascua, ruia, duces." 

Mr. Eustace says that these very lines are inscribed on a marble slab placed on the 
side of the rock opposite the entrance of the tomb ; but' the fact is, though there is 
an inscription there, rudely cut in coarse marble, the words are very different and 
much more barbarous, being — 

" dui Cineres ? Tumuli haec vestigia conditur olim 
Ille hoc qui cecinit pascua, rura, duces. 
Can. Reg. m.d.liii." 

Many writers have carried their skepticism so far, as not only to doubt the story of 
the urn, the ashes, and the inscription, but to deny that this is the tomb of Virgil at 
all ; while, on the other hand, the honors of the place have been most warmly con- 
tended for. There is nothing like a positive proof on either side, but the arguments 
to show whether the poet's tomb was situated here, or some miles off, on the other 
side of the bay, seem to be pretty equally balanced, or, if anything, rather to incline 
in favor of this romantic spot, which has now been visited for centuries by innumer- 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



397 



able travellers of all nations, by kings, princes, and poets, who have found pleasure 
in believing the local tradition. 

George Sandys, an English traveller, who visited the tomb about two hundred and 
. twenty years ago, thus describes its external appearance : " It is in form of a little 
oratory, which the ivy and myrtle do clothe with their natural tapestry ; and, which 
is to be wondered at (if it grew, as they say, of itself), a laurel thrusteth out her 
branches at the top of the ruined cupola, to honor him dead that merited it living." 
The laurel, which is frequently mentioned at a much later dale as wholly covering 
the tomb with its luxuriant branches, has long since disappeared ; but the rest of 
Sandys's description remains correct to this day. The myrtles still flourish on the 
roof, and all around that quiet nook, filling the air with sweetness; and the ivy not 
only decorates the tomb, but the sides of the rocks and the face of the cliff on. which 
the tomb stands. 

Under the tomb is another curiosity, the grotto of Posilippo. It is considerablv 
more than half a mile long by twenty-four feet broad ; its height is unequal, varying 
from twenty-five to sixty feet: it is well paved with large flags of lava. By niafht it 
is now tolerably well illuminated by lamps suspended from its rugged roof, but by 
day the " darkness visible" that reigns through the passage renders it always solemn 
and sometimes embarrassing. Being the only frequented road to and from the lovv^ns 
of Pozzuoli, Baise, Cuma, and other places, there is seldom a lack of passengers; and 
their voices, as they cry to each other in the dark, and the noise of their horses' tread, 
and the wheels of their wagons, carriages, and gigs, echoing through the grotto and 




The Grotto of Posilippo. 



398 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

the deep vaults which in many places branch oflF from it laterally, produce to the ear 
of the stranger an effect that is almost terrific. 

Soon after leaving the grotto of Posilippo, one comes to Pozzuoli. Here the cathe- 
dral, once a temple consecrated to Augustus, exhibits large square stones joined to- 
gether without cement, and some remains of Corinthian columns, all of which appear 
to have belonged to the ancient edifice. In the principal piazza stands a pedestal of 
white marble found in 1693, on which are represented figures in basso-relievo, per- 
sonifying the fourteen cities of Asia Minor that were, during one night, destroyed by 
an earthquake, in the reign of Tiberius, and rebuilt by that emperor. In the same 
piazza is an antique statue, bearing the name of Q. FlavioMaesioEgnatio Lolliano; 
and not far distant is the temple dedicated to the Sun, under the name of Jupiter 
Serapis, a magnificent edifice erected during the sixth century of Rome, but partly 
thrown down and completely buried by an earthquake, till the year 1750 of the Chris- 
tian era, when it was fortunately discovered by a peasant, who espied the top of one 
of the columns a few inches above ground ; in consequence of which an excavation 
was begun, and the temple displayed to view, almost entire ; indeed, had those parts 
which were thrown down by the earthquake been restored to their proper places, 
this building would have exhibited the most perfect and one of the noblest vestiges 
of antiquity yet discovered ; but, alas, the kings of Spain and Naples, instead of re- 
storing, or even leaving things in the state wherein they were found, have taken 
away columns, statues, all, in short, that they deemed worth removal ; neither have 
they excavated sufficiently, as the front of the principal entrance does not appear to 
be yet unburied ; enough, however, meets the eye to form one of the most interesting 
objects imaginable. This temple is a hundred and thirty-four feet long, by a hun- 
dred and fifteen feet wide, its form being quadrangular. Its pavement consists of 
beautiful marbles, with which the whole edifice appears to have been lined : three 
of its columns alone remain standing, and these have been robbed of their capitals : 
each shaft is one solid piece of cipollino. Four flights of marble steps led to the 
middle part of the temple, which part was sixty-five feet in diameter, and of a circu- 
lar form ; and' near the site of one of the flights of steps are two rings of Corinthian 
brass, to which the victims destined for slaughter were probably fastened ; the re- 
ceptacles for their blood and ashes still remain, as do the bathing-rooms for the 
priests, which are nearly perfect. The quantity of water in and about this temple, 
added to the circumstance of there being within its walls upward of thirty small 
apartments, several of which resemble baths, induce a belief that the sick and infirm 
resorted hither to bathe in consecrated water, which the priests provided, no doubt 
obtaining thereby a considerable revenue. 

Decidedly the most interesting spots in the neighborhood of Naples are the 
ancient cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. 

Herculaneum was situated about five miles from Naples : and the present descent 
into this entombed city is at Resina. This city, according to Dionysius of Halicar- 
nassus, was founded by Herciiles. The Alexandrian chronicle mentions it as having 
been built sixty years before the siege of Troy ; Pliny and Florus speak of it as a 
great and flourishing city ; and some authors conjecture that it was the Capua whose 
luxuries ruined Haimibal's army. Dion Cassius gives the following account of its 
destruction, which happened on the twenty-fourth of August, in the year seventy- 
nine. " An incredible quantity of ashes, carried by the wind, filled air, earth, and 
sea; suff'ocating men, cattle, birds, and fishes, and burying two entire cities, namely, 
Herculaneum and Pompeii, while their inhabitants were seated in the theatres." 
The people of Herculaneum, however, must have found time to escape ; as very few 
skeletons, and very little portable wealth, have been discovered in those parts al- 
ready excavated. Some quarters of the city are buried sixty-eight feet deep in ashes 
and lava; others above a hundred. This seems, from Dion Cassius, to have been 
the first great eruption of Vesuvius that the Romans witnessed, though there un- 
doubtedly were volcanoes in the adjoining country, from ages immemorial. The last- 
named author says, that the ashes and dust ejected by Vesuvius darkened the sun at 
Rome ; and were carried by the wind to Egypt : and Giuliani asserts, that during 
the eruption of 1631, the ashes were carried to Constantinople in such quantities as 
to terrify the Turks. 

The spot where Herculaneum stood was not ascertained till the beginning of the 
last century ; but, about the year 1713, a peasant, while sinking a well at Portici, 
found several pieces of ancient mosaic, which happened to be at that time sought 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 399 

for by the Prince d'Elbeuf, who was building a house in the neighborhood. The 
prince, wanting these fragments of marble to compose a siucco in imitation of that 
used by the ancients, purchased of the peasant a right to search for them ; on doing 
which, he was recompensed with a statue of Hercules, and another of Cleopatra : 
this success encouraged him to proceed with ardor, when the architrave of a marble 
gate, seven Grecian statues, resembling vestals, and a circular temple, encompassed 
by twenty-four columns of oriental alabaster on the outside, the same number within, 
and likewise embellished by statues, were the reward of his labor : in short, the 
produce of these excavations became considerable enough to attract the attention of 
the Neapolitan government; in consequence of which, the Prince d'Elbeuf was 
commanded to desist ; and all researches were given up, till the year 1736, when 
Don Carlos, on becoming king of Naples, wished to build a palace at Portici ; and 
purchased, of the Prince d'Elbeuf, his lately-erected house, together with the ground 
whence he had taken so many valuable antiquities. 

The king now made an excavation eighty feet deep, and discovered buried in the 
earth an entire city; together with the bed of a river which ran through it, and even 
part of the water; he also discovered the temple of Jupiter, containing a statue 
reputed to be gold ; and afterward laid open the theatre, directly over which the 
peasant's well was found to have been sunk. The inscriptions on the doors of this 
theatre, fragments of bronze horses gilt, and of the car to which they belonged 
(decorations probably of the grand entrance), together with a considerable number 
of statues, columns, and pictures, were now brought to light : but, nevertheless, in 
the year 1765, not more than fifty laborers were employed in making these valuable 
excavations ; in 1769, the number was reduced to ten ; and, in 1776, to three or four. 
Resina (anciently Retina) and Portici being built immediately over Herculaneum, 
the workmen could not venture to excavate as they would have done had the surface 
of the earth been less encumbered ; consequently the plans of Herculaneum and its 
edifices are not accurate; it is, however, ascertained that the streets were wide, 
straight, paved with lava, and bordered with raised footways ; that the buildings are 
composed of tufo and other volcanic substances; the interior walls adorned with 
frescoes, or stained with a deep and beautiful red color ; the architecture Grecian, 
and, generally speaking, uniform. 

The rooms in private houses were small, and either paved with mosaics, or bricks 
three feet long, and six inches thick. It does not appear that the generality of the 
people had glazed windows ; though some excellent plate glass has been found in 
Herculaneum ; but almost every window seems to have been provided with wooden 
shutters, pierced so as to admit light and air. 

The most considerable edifice yet discovered is a forum, or chalcidicum. This 
building seems to have been a rectangular court, two hundred and twenty-eight feet 
long, and encompassed with a portico supported by forty-two columns: it was paved 
with marble, and adorned with paintings. The portico of entrance was composed 
of five arcades, ornamented with equestrain statues of marble ; two of which, the 
celebrated Balbi, have been already described. Opposite to the entrance, and ele- 
vated upon three steps, was a statue of the emperor Vespasian ; and on each side a 
figure in a curule chair; in the wall were niches adorned with paintings, and bronze 
statues of Nero and Germanicus ; there likewise were other statues in the portico. 

This forum was connected, by means of a colonnade, with two temples, in form 
rectangular, and one of them a hundred and fifty feet long ; the interior part being 
ornamented with columns, frescoes, and inscriptions in bronze ; and near these edi- 
fices was an open theatre, capable of containing ten thousand spectators, and the 
only building now discoverable ; all the other excavations having been filled up. By 
a passage close to the peasant's well, we descended into this theatre. The front of 
the stage seems to have been decorated with columns, statues, &c., all of which are 
taken away, two inscriptions excepted. The proscenium was found entire, and is 
a hundred and thirty feet long. Part of the stage, and the base of one of the columns 
of flowered alabaster, with which it was adorned, were likewise discovered ; and in 
front of the stage, according to De la Lande, were bronze statues of the Muses. 
Fragments also were found of bronze horses, supposed to have decorated the top of 
the wall which terminated the seats. All, however, which we were able to discern 
was the stage, the orchestra, the consular seats, and proscenium ; together with the 
corridors or lobbies, some parts of which exhibit beautiful arabesques, and stucco 
stained with the dark red color already mentioned ; we likewise sav/ the impression 



400 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




Lr 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 401 

of a human face on the ceiling of one of the lobbies. This theatre appears to have 
been lined with Parian marble, and built about the same time with that at Verona, 
after the designs of Numisius. 

Pompeii.— The road to Pompeii lies through Portici, Torre-del-Greco, and Torre- 
del-Annunziata, in the way to the first of which, is the Ponte Maddalena, under 
whose arches passes the Sebeto, anciently Sebethus. The commencement of this 
drive exhibits gardens and vineyards of the most luxuriant description ; but, near 
Torre-del-Greco, almost the whole country has been laid waste by streams of lava, 
which, during the summer of 1794, destroyed that town and its vicinity. Vesuvius 




Mount Vesuvius. 



had for some time ceased to vomit fire and smoke as usual, a circumstance that o-en- 
erally presages mischief: and late in the evening of Thursday, June 12, the inhabit- 
ants were alarmed by a sudden and violent shock of an earthquake, which was thrice 
repeated, continuing each time about three minutes and as many seconds. This first 
calamity produced a general consternation, insomuch that the people fled from their 
houses into their gardens, and thence to the seaside, where they passed the nio-ht ia 
dreadful alarm. Next morning, processions of men, women, and children, were seen, 
barefooted in the streets of Naples, proceeding to the cathedral, to implore the pro- 
tection of St. Gennaro. From Thursday till Sunday the weather was tempestuous 
the air hot, loaded with vapors, and, at intervals, suddenly darkened for some mini 
utes, during which period there were several slight shocks of an earthquake, attended 
by a rumbling sound, like distant thunder. On Sunday evening, the inhabitants were 
again alarmed by a noise so violent that it resembled a continual discharo-eof can- 
non — when, in a moment, burst forth a volcano, not in the crater on the Summit of 
Vesuvius, but toward the middle of the mountain on the western side. The explosion 
made every edifice tremble in Torre-del-Greco, which is only five horizontal miles 
from this new volcano, at whose mouth issued a column of s'moke, that continually 
mounted and increased in magnitude, till it formed itself into the shape of an im- 
mense pine. This column was sometimes clearly distinguished, and at others ob- 
scured by ashes: it continued augmenting rapidly in circumference, till at len<jth it 
began to decline downward, when, from the quantity of dense matter which com- 
posed the column being much heavier than the air, the former, of course, fell to the 
ground. Torrents of flaming lava, of a portentous magnitude, now poured down the 
mountain, principally in two directions: one stream, of about a mile in breadth, bending 
its destructive course toward Torre-del-Greco, a town said to contain eighteen thou- 
sand persons, the other taking the direction of Resina ; while several small rivulets 
of liquid fire were observed in divers places. Torre-del-Greco soon fell a prey to the, 
lava, which, in its progress, desolated the whole hill leading down from Vesuvius, 
sweeping away every house, so that the terrified inhabitants were compelled to aban- 
don their all, and take refuge in Naples. At length, the lava, after three hours' de- 
vastation, ran into the sea, on whose banks, for one third of a square mile, it raised 

26 



402 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

itself a bed from fifteen to twenty Neapolitan palmi (about twenty or twenty-five feet) 
above the level of the water, and as much, if not more, above the level of the streets 
of Torre-del-Greco. The reflection from this torrent of lava illuminated the whole 
city of Naples, and filled the inhabitants with dread ; while the other torrent, which 
flowed toward Resina, on arriving at the gate, divided itself into three streams : one 
running? between the gate and the Convent de' Padri Francescani ; the second to the 
piazza^ and the third to the Convent del Carmine, near Torre-del-Annunziata. Wher- 
ever the lava ran, it covered the country with a crust from twenty to thirty paimi 
deep : in and about Resina it left, for a short time, some few isolated buildings, viz., 
the Palazzo-Brancaccia, the Chiesa de' Marinari, and the Convent de' Francescani ; 
but these soon caught fire : and five women, with one old man, after vainly ringing 
the church and convent bells for assistance, saved themselves by flight. The Pa- 
lazzo-CaraccioIo now fell a prey to the flames, as did every other building in the 
neighborhood of Resina, till the whole surrounding plain exhibited one vast sheet of 
lava. The town of Torre-del-Greco, likewise, was completely buried, some few 
tops of the loftiest buildings excepted, while every part of the country through which 
the lava ran became a desert — the trees being thrown down, the houses razed, and 
the ground for many miles distant covered with cinders and ashes, which last lay 
about one finger deep in Naples. On the 16th of June, the air was so dense, as 
nearly to obscure the mountain; but next day the fire made itself new channels, 
which circumstance might probably be the preservation of several fine buildings near 
Resina. 

We can not dismiss this subject without mentioning an extraordinary circumstance 
which occurred at Pienza, near Siena, just before the destruction of Torre-del-Greco. 
Professor Santi, of Pisa, resided at Pienza when this circumstance happened, and to 
him we are obliged for the following particulars, which may serve to rescue many 
ancient historians from the reproach of- credulity : — 

On the 16th of June, a dark and dense cloud was discovered at a great height 
above the horizon, coming from the southeast, that is, in the direction of Vesuvius, 
which may be about two hundred horizontal miles distant from Pienza. At this 
height the cloud was heard to issue tones like the discharge of several batteries of 
cannon ; it then burst into flames, at which moment fell a'shower of stones for seven 
or eight miles round, while the cloud gradually vanished. These stones are volca- 
nic, being composed of gray lava, resembling what is found on Vesuvius ; and Mr. 
Santi, who took infinite pains to investigate this phenomenon, felt confident that the 
cloud rose from Vesuvius, which was at that moment disgorging fires whose force 
and effects can not be calculated : it could not have arisen from Radicofani, because, 
though this mountain is one continued mass of volcanic rocks, which bespeak it the 
offspring of subterranean fire, and though it has been sometimes visited by dreadful 
■earthquakes, still neither history nor even tradition records that it ejected flames, 
smoke, or vapor, at any period whatsoever. 

The approach from Torre-del-Annunziata to Pompeii is through the suburb an- 
ciently called Pagus Augustus Felix, and built on each side of the Via-Appia, which, 
from the commencement of this suburb to the Herculaneum-gate, is flanked by a 
double row of tombs. 

Pompeii appears to have been populous and handsome. It was situated near the 
mouth of the Sarnus (now called Sarno), and the walls which surrounded the city 
were above three miles in circumference, and are supposed to have been originally 
washed by the sea, though now about one mile distant from its margin. Pompeii 
was buried under ashes and pumice-stones, and at the same time deluged with boil- 
ing water, during the year 79, and accidentally discovered by some peasants in 1750, 
while they were employed in cultivating a vineyard near the Sarno. The excava- 
tion of Herculaneum was attended with much more expense than that of Pompeii, 
because the ashes and pumice-stones which entombed the latter were not above fif- 
teen feet deep, and so easy was it to remove them, that the Pompeians who survived 
the eruption of the year 79, evidently disinterred and took away a large portion of 
their moveable wealth ; though, generally speaking, they seem to have made no 
efforts toward repairing the mischief done to their houses — an extraordinary circum- 
stance, as the roofs only were destroyed. The most interesting parts, hitherto re- 
stored to light, of this ill-fated city, have been disinterred by the French, who un- 
covered its walls, amphitheatre, forum-civile, basilic, and adjoining temples, to- 
gether with the double row of mausolea, on the outside of the Herculaneum- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



403 




View up the Street of Tombs, looking to the Gatea. 



gate. Still, however, several streets remain buried, but excavations are going on 
daily. 

The streets are straight, and paved with lava, having on each side a raised foot- 
way, usually composed of pozzolana and small pieces of brick or marble. The Via- 
Appia (which traverses the town and extends to Brundusium) is broad, but the other 
streets are narrow : carriage- wheels have worn traces in their pavement, and, judging 
from these traces, it appears that the distance between the wheels of ancient car- 
riages was not four feet. The houses hitherto excavated are, generally speaking, 
small ; most of them, however, were evidently the habitations of shopkeepers : but 
those few which belonged to persons of a higher class were usually adorned with a 
vestibule, supported by columns of brick, each house possessing an open quadran- 
gle, with a supply of water for domestic purposes in its centre ; and on the sides 
of the quadrangle, and behind it, were baths and dressing-rooms, sitting-rooms, bed- 
chambers, the chapel which contained the lares, the kitchen, larder, wine-cellar, &c., 
none of which appear to have had much light, except what the quadrangle afforded, 
there being toward the streets no windows. The walls of every room are composed 
of tufo and lava, stuccoed, painted, and polished, but the paintings in the large 
houses are seldom superior in merit to those in the shops ; perhaps, however, the 
ancient mode of painting houses, like that now practised in Italy, was with machines 
called slampi, which enable the common house-painter to execute almost any figure 
or pattern upon fresco-walls. The ceilings are arched, the roofs flat, and but few 
houses have two stories. The windows, like those in Herculaneum, appear to have 
been provided with wooden shutters, and some of them were furnished with glass, 
which seems to have been thick and not transparent, while others are supposed to 
have been glazed either with horn or talc. Every apartment is paved with mosaics ; 
and on the outside of the houses, written with red paint, are the names of the inhab- 
itants, with their occupations, including magistrates and other persons of rank ; so 
that if the stucco on which these names were written had been well preserved, we 
should at the present moment have known to whom each house in Pompeii origi- 
nally belonged. All the private houses are numbered ; and on the exterior walls of 
public edifices are proclamations, advertisements, and notices, with respect to festi- 
vals, gladiatorial shows, &c. The public edifices were spacious and elegant, and the 



404 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




Mosaic at Pompeii. 



whole town was watered by the Sarno, which seems to have been carried through it 
by means of subterranean canals. 

We will now mention the objects best worth notice, as they lie contiguous to each 
other : — 

Villa of Diomedes. — The first building disentombed at Pompeii was this villa, the 
skeleton of whose master, Marcus Arrius Diomedes, was found here, with a key in. 
one hand, and gold ornaments and coins in the other. Behind him was found anoth- 
er skeleton, probably that of his servant, with vases of silver and bronze ; and in 
three subterranean corridors, which appear to have been used as cellars, seventeen 
skeletons were discovered, one of which, adorned with gold ornaments, is conjectured 
to have been the mistress of the villa, and the others her family. On the ground- 
floor are several rooms nearly in their original state, as are the garden and the cel- 
lars, the first of which is surrounded with colonnades, and has a pergola and a reser- 
voir for water in its centre ; the latter, wherein the seventeen skeletons were found, 
contain wine-jars, filled with and cemented to the walls by ashes. The upper story 
exhibits paintings, mosaic pavements, hot and cold baths, with furnaces for heating 
water. Part of the ancient roof of this villa is likewise preserved ; and, on the oppo- 
site side of the Via-Appia, are the tombs of the family of Diomedes. 

Semicircular roofed Seat. — On the left side of the Via-Appia is a deep recess, 
decorated with stucco ornaments: it seems to have been a covered seat for foot-pas- 
sengers ; and here were found the skeletons of a mother with her infant in her arms, 
and two other children near her. Three gold rings (one being in the form of a ser- 
pent), and two pairs of ear-rings enriched with fine pearls, were found among these 
skeletons. Opposite to this semicircular seat, and at a small distance from the Via- 
Appia, are ruins of a villa supposed to have belonged to Cicero. 

Semicircular Seat, not roofed. — On the back of the seat is the following inscrip- 
tion, in capital letters, as, indeed, are all the inscriptions at Pompeii : " Mammi^s P. 
F. Sacerdoti Pvblicae Locvs Sepvltvrae Datvs Decvrlonvm Decreto." Be- 
hind the seat siands the tomb of Mammia, which appears to have been handsomely 
built and elegantly ornamented. Further on, near the Herculaneum-gate, is another 
semicircular bench ; and to the left of the Via-Appia, on the outside of the gate, is a 
path leading to a sally-port, by the steps of which it is easy to ascend to the top of 
the ramparts. 

Herculaneum-Gate. — There were four entrances to Pompeii, namely : the Hercu- 
laneum-gate ; the Sarno, or Sea-gate ; the Isiac-gate (so called because near the tem- 
ple of Isis) ; and the Nola-gate : all of which entrances Avere apparently devoid of 
architectural decorations, and composed of bricks stuccoed. The Herculaneum-gate 
is divided into three parts : the middle division, through which passes the Via-Appia, 
is supposed to have been for carriages, and one of the side-entrances for foot-passen- 
gers coming into the city, while the other was appropriated to foot-passengers going 
out of it. The Via-Appia is about twelve feet wide, and composed of large volcanic 
stones of various shapes and sizes, fixed deep into a particularly strong cement. 
The footways on either side of this street are between two and three feet in width. 

Post-House. — This is the first building on the right, within the gate : and as Au- 
gustus established posts, or what was tantamount, on all the consular roads, making 
Pompeii one of the stations, this building probably was a post-house ; several pieces 
of iron, shaped like the tire of wheels, were found here. 

In a house on the opposite side of the way are a triclinium, and some paintings 
which merit notice. One of these is a picture representing a female employed in 
making a copy of the bearded Bacchus. She is dressed in a light-green tunic, with- 
out sleeves, over which she wears a dark-red mantle. Beside her is a small box, 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



405 




Female Artist copying Bacchus. 



such as we are told by Varro painters used, divided into compartments, into which 
she dips her brush. She mixes her tints on the palette, which she holds in her left 
hand. 

House of Caius Ceius. — This edifice, which stands opposite to a fountain, and is 
now occupied by soldiers, appears to have contained public baths. Not far distant is 
an edifice, adorned with a pavement of fine marble, and a good mosaic representing 
a lion. This quarter of the town likewise contains subterranean structures, wherein 
the citizens of Pompeii are supposed to have assembled, during very hot or rainy 
weather, to transact business. This description of building was called a crypto- 
porticus, and was usually adorned with columns, and furnished with baths and reser- 
voirs or water. 

House called the Habitation of the Vestals. — Here, according to appearance, were 
three habitations under the same roof, and likewise a chapel, with a place for the 
sacred fire in its centre, and in its walls three recesses for the lares. On the door- 
sill of one of the apartments is the word " salve" (welcome), wrought in mosaic ; 
another door-sill is adorned with two serpents, also wrought in mosaic. A room of 
very small dimensions has, in the centre of its pavement, a labyrinth, or table for 
playing at an ancient game ; and the pavement of another room exhibits a cornuco- 



406 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

pia. The skeletons of a man and a little dog were found here ; and in the apartment 
called the toletla several gold ornaments for ladies Avere discovered. Not far distant 
is an edifice which appears to have been an anatomical theatre, as upward of forty 
chirurgical instruments (some resembling those of the present day, and others quite 
different) were found within its walls. 

Ponderarium, or Customhouse. — Here were found a considerable number of 
weights, scales, and steelyards, similar to those now in use at Naples, together with 
one weight of twenty-two ounces, representing the figure of Mercury. Near the pon- 
derarium is an edifice which, judging by the materials discovered there, seems to 
have been a soap-manufactory ; and not far distant are two shops for hot medicated 
potions. 

Three bakers' shops, at least, have been found, all in a tolerable slate of preser- 
vation. The mills, the oven, the kneading-trough, the vessels for containing water, 
flour, leaven, have all been discovered, and seem to leave nothing wanting to our 
knowledge. In some of the vessels the very flour remained, still capable of being 
identified, though reduced almost to a cinder. But in the centre, some lumps of 
whitish matter, resembling chalk, remained, which, when wetted and placed on a 
red-hot iron, gave out the peculiar odor which flour thus treated emits. One of these 
shops was attached to the house of Sallust, the other to the house of Pansa ; prob- 
ably they were worth a handsome rent. The third, which we select for description, 
for one will serve perfectly as a type of the whole, seems to have belonged to a 
man of higher class, a sort of capitalist ; for, instead of renting a mere dependency 
of another man's house, he lived in a tolerably good house of his own, of which the 
bakery forms a part. 

Mazois (a French writer, who has described Pompeii) was present at the excava- 
tion of this house, and saw the mills at the moment of their discovery, when the 
iron-work, though entirely rust-eaten, was yet perfect enougii to explain satisfac- 
torily the method of construction. 

The base is a cylindrical stone, about five feet in diameier, and two feet high. 
Upon this, forming part of the same block, or else firmly fixed into it, is a conical 
projection about two feet high, the sides slightly curving inward. Upon this there 
rests another block, externally resembling a dicebox, internally an hourglass, being 
shaped into two hollow cones, with their vertices toward each other, the lower one 
fitting the conical surface on which it rests, though not with any degree of accu- 
racy. To diminish friction, however, a strong iron pivot was inserted in the top of 
the solid cone, and a corresponding socket let into the narrow part of the hourglass. 
Four holes were cut through the stone, parallel to this pivot. The narrow part was 
hooped on the outside with iron, into which wooden bars were inserted, by means 
of which the upper stone was turned upon its pivot, by the labor of men or asses. 
The upper hollow cone served as a hopper, and was filled with corn, which fell by 
degrees through the four holes upon the solid cone, and was reduced to powder by 
friction between the two rough surfaces. Of course, it worked its way to the bot- 
tom by degrees, and fell out on the cylindrical base, round which a channel was cut 
to facilitate the collection. These machines are about six feet high in the whole, 
made of a rough, gray, volcanic stone, full of large crystals of leucite. Thus rude 
in a period of high refinement and luxury, was one of the commonest and most 
necessary machines ; thus careless were the Romans of the amount of labor wasted 
in preparing an article of daily and universal consumption. This, probably, arose 
in chief from the employment of slaves, the hardness of whose task was little cared 
for ; while the profit and encouragement to enterprise on the part of the professional 
baker was proportionally diminished, since every family of wealth probably pre- 
pared its bread at home. 

In the centre of the pier at the back, half hidden by the mill, is the aperture to 
the cistern by which the water used in making bread was supplied. On each side 
are vessels to hold the water ; one is seen, the other hidden. 

The oven is seen on the left. It is made with considerable attention to economy 
of heat. The real oven is enclosed in a sort of ante-oven, which alone is seen in our 
view._ The latter had an aperture at the top for the smoke to escape. The hole in 
the side is for the introduction of dough, which was prepared in the adjoining room, 
and deposited through that hole upon the shovel, with which the man in front 
placed it in the oven. The bread, when baked, was conveyed to cool in a room on the 
other side of the oven, by a similar aperture. Beneath the oven is an ash-pit. To 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



407 



the right of our view is a large room, which is conjectured to have been a stable 
The jawbone of an ass, and some other fragments of a skeleton, were found in it. 
There is a reservoir for water at the further end, which passes through the wall, and 
is common both to this room and the next, so that it could be filled without going 
into the stable. The further room is fitted up with stone basins, which seem to have 
been the kneading-troughs. It contains also a narrow and inconvenient staircase. 




■ Bakers Shop aud Mill at Pompeii. 

Though bread-corn formed the principal article of nourishment among the Italians, 
the use of bread itself was not of early date. For a long time the Romans used 
their corn sodden into pap ; and there were no bakers in Rome antecedent to the war 
against Perseus, king of Macedonia, about A. U. 580. Before this, every house 
made its own bread ; and this was the task of the women, except in great houses, 
where there were men-cooks. And even after the invention of bread, it was long 
before the use of mills was known ; but the grain was bruised in mortars. Their 
loaves appear to have been very often baked in moulds, several having been found ; 
these may possibly be artoptae, and the loaves thus baked, artopticii (mentioned by 
Roman writers). Several of these loaves have been found entire. They are flat, 
and about eight inches in diameter. 

Wine and Oil Shop. — The vessels which contained wine and oil may still be seen 
here, and in many other shops of the same kind. Here, likewise, are stoves, with 
which these shops seem usually to have been furnished, perhaps for the purpose of 
boiling wine. 

House of Caius Sallust. — Contiguous to the wine and oil shop is one of the largest 
houses yet discovered at Pompeii ; and according to the inscription on its outside 
wall, once the abode of Caius Sallust. Here is a triclinium, with places where mat- 
tresses appear to have been spread for the family to lie down while they ate. This 
triclinium is in the back part of the house ; and in another part, is a tolerably well- 
preserved picture of Diana and Actaeon ; and likewise a small room, paved with 
African marbles, and adorned with a picture of Mars, Venus, and Cupid, well-pre- 
served, and executed in a style much superior to the generality of frescoes found at 
Pompeii. In the lararium, or chapel for the lares, a small statue was discovered, 
as were some coins, and a gold vase, weighing three ounces ; bronze vases likewise 
were found in this house ; and four skeletons, five armlets, two rings, two earrings, 
a small silver dish, a candelabrum, several bronze vases, and thirty-two coins, were 
found in its vicinity. 



408 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



House of Pansa. — This is a good house, handsomely decorated with marbles and 
mosaics. In the centre of its quadrangle are a well and a small reservoir for fish ; 
and in its kitchen a fireplace, resembling what we find in modern Italian kiichens, 
and paintings representing a spit, a ham, an eel, and other eatables. Here were 
found several culinary utensils, boih of earthenware and bronze, and not far henci3 
is a shop, wherein a variety of colors, prepared for fresco-painting, were discovered. 

During the progress of the excavations at Pompeii, a painting was found in the 
Casa Carolina, which scarcely held together to be copied, and fell in pieces upon 
the first rain. It is of grotesque character, and represents a pigmy painier, whose 
only covering is a tunic. He is at work upon the portrait of another pigmy, clothed 
in a manner to indicate a person of distinction. The artist is seated opposite to his 
sitter, at an awful distance from the picture, which is placed upon an easel, similar 
in construction to ours. By the side of the artist stands his palette, which is a Utile 
table with four feet, and by it is a pot to wash his pencils in. He therefore was 
working with gum, or some sort of water-colors ; but he did not confine himself to 
this branch of the art, for to the right we see his color-grinder, who prepares, in a 
vessel placed on some hot coals, colors mixed with wax and oil. Two amateurs 
enter the studio, and appear to be conversing with respect to the picture. On the 
noise occasioned by their entrance, a scholar seated in the 'distance turns round to 
look at them. It is difficult to explain the presence of the bird in the painting-rocm. 
The picture is not complete ; a second bird, and on the opposite side, a child playing 
with a dog, had perished before Mazois (an artist who has preserved some of the 
most valuable remains at Pompeii) copied it. This picture is very curious, as it 
shows how few thing?, in the mechanical practice of painting, have been chang-'d 
during two thousand years. 



'^ITTTlOTl 




Grotesque Representation of a Portrait-Painter's Studio. 

Forum Civile. — This is a very large, oblong piazza, which appears to have been 
bordered with magnificent porticoes, supported by a double row of tufo and traver- 
tino columns, and paved with marble. One entrance to this forum is through two 
archways, the use of which is not apparent. Beyond the second archway, on the 
left, are remains of a temple, supposed to have been consecrated to Jupiter, because 
a fine head of that heathen deity was found there. Several steps, now shaken to 
pieces by earthquakes, lead to the vestibule of this temple, which seems to have 
been quadrilateral, spacious, and handsome, and its cella is elegantly paved with 
mosaics. On the right of these ruins stands the temple of Venus, exhibiting beau- 
tiful remains of its original splendor. The shape of the edifice is quadrilateral ; 
it is large, and its walls adorned with paintings. The cella, which stands on 
fifteen steps, is paved with mosaics; and in a contiguous apartment is a well-pre- 
served painting of Bacchus and Silenus. Here, likewise, is a small recess, supposed 
to have been a lararium. The lower part of the temple contains a hernia, resem- 
bling a vestal, together with an altar (or perhaps the basis of the statue of Venus), 
which seems to have slid from its proper place, in consequence of an earthquake. 
The steps leading to the cella have the same appearance, and all the edifices in this 
part of Pompeii must have suffered more from the earthquake which preceded the 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 409 

eruption of the year 79, than from that eruption itself, as the repairs going on at 
the very moment of that eruption evidently prove. Beyond the temple of Venus, 
and fronting the Via Appia, stands the basilica, or principal court of justice, a ma- 
jestic structure, of a quadrilateral form, in length, a hundred and ninety feet, and in 
breadth seventy-two. The walls are adorned with Corinthian pilasters, and the 
centre of the building exhibits a double row of Corinthian columns, twenty-eight 
in number. The tribunal for the judges, which stands at the upper end of the court, 
is considerably elevated, and has, immediately beneath it, a subterranean apartment, 
supposed to have been a prison. In the court, and fronting the tribunal, is a large 
pedestal, evicjently intended to support an equestrian statue ; and on an outside wall 
of this structure (that wall which fronts the house of Championet) the word " basil- 
ica" may be discovered, in two places, written with red paint. Beyond the basilica, 
and fronting the temple of Jupiter, are three large edifices, supposed to have been 
dedicated to public uses, and that in the centre was evidently unfinished, or repairing, 
when buried by the eruption of 79. On the side of the forum, and opposite to the 
basilica, are edifices resembling temples ; one of which, supposed to have been con- 
secrated to Mercury, contains a beautiful altar, adorned with basso-relievoes, repre- 
senting a sacrifice. Marbles of various sorts, apparently prepared for new build- 
ings, together with a pedestal which seems, from the inscription it bears, to have 
supported the statue of Q. Sallust, and another pedestal, inscribed with the letters 
" C. Cvspio C. F. Pansse," occupy the centre of the piazza ; and, judging from marks 
in the pavement, the entrance to this forum was occasionally closed with gates of 
bronze or iron. 

House of Championet.-r-This habitation, so called because excavated by a French, 
general of that name, appears to have suffered considerably from the earthquake of 
the year 63 ; it has a vestibule, paved with mosaics, and, in the centre of its quad- 
rangle, a reservoir for the rain-water which fell on its roof; this reservoir appears to 
liave had a covering. At the back of the house is another vestibule ; and under the 
sitting-rooms and bedchambers (all of which are paved with mosaics, and more or 
less decorated with paintings), are subterranean offices, a rare thing at Pompeii. 
Skeletons of females, with rings, bracelets, and a considerable number of coins, 
were found in this house. 

Continuation of the Via Appia. — On each side of this street are shops and other 
buildings, which exhibit the names and occupations of the persons by whom they 
were once inhabited, these names, &c., written with red paint ; and the wall, front- 
ing the Via Appia, and belonging to the chalcidicum, displays the ordinances of the 
magistrates, the days appointed for festivals, &c., likewise written with red paint. 
Here are bakers' shops, containing mills for pulverizing corn ; oil and wine shops ; 
a house adorned with pictures of heathen divinities; and another house elegantly 
painted, and supposed to have belonged to a jeweller. In this street, and likewise 
in other parts of the town, are several fountains, which were supplied by water 
brought in a canal from the Sarno ; and at the lower end of the street, near the 
portico leading to the tragic theatre, was foiind in 1812, a skeleton, supposed to be 
the remains of a priest of Isis, with a large quantity of coins, namely, three hundred 
and sixty pieces of silver, forty-two of bronze, and eight of gold, wrapped up in cloth 
so strong as not to have perished during more than seventeen centuries. Here like- 
wise Avere found several silver vases, some of them evidently sacrificial, and belong- 
ing to the temple of Isis ; small silver spoons, cups of gold and silver, a valuable 
cameo, rings, silver basso-relievoes, &c. 

Portico ornamented with Six Columns of Tufo. — The capitals of the columns which 
supported this portico appear to have been handsome, and its front, according to an 
inscription on a pedestal that still remains, was adorned with the statue of Marcus 
Claudius Marcellus, son of Caius, patron of Pompeii. The statue, however, has 
not been found. Beyond this portico is a long colonnade, leading to the tragic 
theatre. 

Temple of Hercules. — This edifice, apparently more ancient than any other temple 
at Pompeii, is said to have been thrown down by the earthquake of the year 63, re- 
built, but again demolished in 79. The ruins prove, however, that it was once a 
stately Doric structure, which stood on a quadrilateral platform, with three steps on 
every side leading up to it. The platform still remains, and is ninety feet long, by about 
sixty feet wide. Traces of gigantic columns also remain ; and beyond the platform, 
and nearly fronting the east, are three altars : that in the centre is small, and probably 



410 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



held the sacred fire ; those on the sides are large, low, aud shaped like sarcophagi 
the latter kind of altar, called ara, being, when sacrifices were made to the terrestrial 
deities, the place on which the victim was burnt. Behind these altars is a receptacle 
for the sacred ashes ; near the temple is a burial-place, and on the left, a semicircular 
bench, decorated with lions' claws carved in tufo : it resembles the seats near the 
Herculaneum-gate. 

Upper Entrance to the Tragic Theatre, — This wall has been restored, and beyond 
it, are steps leading down to the postscenium of the tragic theatre; and likewise to 
the Forum Nundinarium ; so called because a market was held there every ninth 
day. Not far hence was the great reservoir of the water of the Sarno, which sup- 
plied the lower part of the city, and particularly the Forum Nundinarium. 

Tribunal, or Curia of Ponpeii. — This is an oblong court, surrounded by porticoes ; 
and containing a rostrum, built of peperino, with steps ascending to it. Tribunals 
were usually placed near forums and theatres: and this tribunal is supposed to have 
been erected by a family who likewise built at their own expense the tragic theatre, 
and a crypto-porticus, in order to adorn the colony 




Rnins of the Temple of Isis. 



Temple of Isis. — It appears, from an inscription found here, that this edifice was 
thrown down by the earthquake of 63, and rebuilt by Numerius Popidius Celsinus. 
It is sixty-eight feet long by sixty feet wide in good preservation, and peculiarly 
well worth notice ; for to contemplate the altar whence so many oracles have issued, 
to discern the identical spot where the priests concealed themselves, when they spoke 
for the statue of their goddess, to view the secret stairs by which they ascended into 
the sanctum-sanctorum; in short, to examine the construction of a temple more 
Egyptian than Greek, excites no common degree of interest. This temple is a Doric 
edifice, composed of bricks, stuccoed, painted, and polished. The sanctum-sanctorum 
stands on seven steps (once cased with Parian marble), its form being nearly a square ; 
its walls, which are provided with niches for statues, display among other ornaments 
in stucco, the pomegranate, called in Greek, roia, and one of the emblems of Isis. 
The pavement is mosaic. Here, on two altars, were suspended the Isiac tables ; 
and two quadrangular basins of Parian marble, to contain the purifying water, were 
likewise found here, each standing on one foot of elegant workmanship, and bearing 
this inscription : " Longinxjs n Vir." On the high altar stood the statue of Isis ; 
and immediately beneath this altar are apertures to the hiding-place for the priests ; 
contiguous to which are the secret stairs. The lower end of the temple, fronting the 
sanctum-sanctorum, contains the altars whereon victims were burnt ; together with 
the receptacles for their ashes, and the reservoir for the purifying water. A figure 
of Harpocrates was found in a niche opposite to the high altar. Other parts of the 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



411 



temple contain small altars, a kitchen, in which were found culinary utensils of 
cretacotta (containing ham-bones and remains of fishes), together with the skeleton 
of a priest leaning against the wall, and holding in his hand a hatchet. Here also 
is a refectory, where the priests were dining at the moment of the eruption which 
entombed their city ; and where chickens' bones, eggs, and earthen vessels, were 
discovered : burnt bread was likewise found here ; together with the skeletons of 
priests who either had not time to make their escape, or felt it a duty not to abandon 
their goddess. When this temple was excavated, its walls exhibited paintings of 
Isis with tiie sistrum, Anubis with a dog's head, priests with palm-branches and 
ears of corn, and one priest holding a lamp ; the hippopotamus, the ibis, the lotus, 
dolphins, birds, and arabesques. Most of these, however, have been removed to 
Naples ; as have the statues of Isis, Venus, Bacchus, Priapus, and two Egyptian idols, 
in basalt, which were likewise found here. Sacrificial vessels of every description, 
candelabra, tripods, and couches for the gods, were also discovered in this temple. 




Candelabra found at Pompeii. 

Not far hence is an edifice,_which, judging by the rings of iron found in its walls, 
was probably the receptacle for beasts destined to be slain on the Isiac altars. 

Temple of JEsculapius. — The centre of this building contains a large low altar, 



'4. 



412 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

made with tufo, and shaped like a sarcophagus. The cella is placed on nine steps ; 
and seems, if we may judge by the traces of columns still discernible, to have been 
covered with a roof. Here were found statues of -Esculapius, Hygeia, and Priapus 
all in creta-cotta. 

Sculptor^s Shop. — Several statues were discovered here ; some being finished, 
others half finished, and others only just begun. Several blocks of marble, and 
various tools, now preserved in the Neapolitan academy of sculpture, were likewise 
discovered here. 




Implements of Building, found at Pompeii. 

Comic Theatre.— ^This edifice, built of tufo, and supposed to have been the Odeum 
for music, is small, but nearly perfect ; and was covered with a roof resting upon 
columns, between which were aperiures for light. Here are the places for the pro-' 
consul, and vestals, the orchestra, the proscenium, the scenium, and the postscenium ; 
together with all the benches and staircases leading to them, for male spectators; 
and another staircase, leading to the portico, or gallery, round the top of the theatre ; 
in which gallery the females were placed. The orchestra is paved with marble, 
and exhibits the following inscription in bronze capitals : — 

" M. OCVLATIVS M. F. VeRVS II ViR PRO LVDIS." 

On the outside of this edifice is another inscription, mentioning the names of the 
persons at whose expense it was roofed. 

Two admission tickets for theatrical representations have been found at Pompeii: 
these tickets are circular, and made of bone; on one of them is written " AICXYAOY;" 
and above this word is marked the Roman number, XH., with the Greek correspond- 
ing numerical letters, IB, beneath it. The other ticket is numbered in a similar 
manner, and likewise marked with the name of a Greek poet : both tickets having, 
on the reverse side, a drawing, which represents a ^^eatre. The Odeum seems to 
have suffered from the earthquake of 63. 

Traffic Theatre. — This edifice, which stands upon a stratum of very ancient lava, 
is much larger than the Odeum, and in point of architecture one of the most beauti- 
ful buildings in Pompeii. It was composed of tufo, lined throughout with Parian 
marble, and still exhibits the orchestra, the proscenium, the stage ; the marks where 
scenes or a curtain were fixed ; the podium on the right of the orchestra for the chief 
magistrate, where a curule chair was found ; the podium on the left for the vestals ; 
the benches for patricians and knights in the lower part of the cavea, and those for 
plebeians in the upper part ; the entrance for patricians and knights ; the entrance and 
stairs for plebeians ; the gallery round the top of the theatre for ladies, fenced with bars 
of iron (as the holes in the marble, and the remains of lead used for fixing the bars, 
may still be discovered) ; the stairs of entrance to this gallery, and the blocks of mar- 
ble projecting from its wall so as to support the wood-work, to which, in case of rain 
or intense heat, an awning was fastened. The Campanians invented awnings for 
theatres, to shelter the audience from the rays of the sun ; but were, in consequence, 
called eflFeminate, a character which still seems appropriate to them. The stage, 
judging by the niches that still remain, appears to have been adorned with statues 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



413 




,i%- 



414 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



The partition between the dressing-rooms and the stage was called the scena, antJ 
decorated with statues, columns, &c., for a tragedy, and, for a comedy, with cottages 
and other pastoral objects. The proscenium is enclosed by dwarf walls, and divides 
the stage from the orchestra and seats appropriated to the audience. This stage, 
like those of modern days, is more elevated at the upper than the lower end, and 
very wide, but so shallow that much scenery could not have been used, although the 
ancients changed their scenes by aid of engines, with which they turned the par- 
tition, called the scena, round at pleasure. There are three entrances for the actors, 
all in front ; and behind the stage are remains of the postscenium. 

This theatre stands on the side of a hill, according to the custom of the Greeks; 
and on the summit of this hill was an extensive colonnade (already mentioned), des- 
tined, perhaps, to shelter the spectators ia wet weather, and likewise to serve as a 
public walk, the view it commands being delightful. 




Tragic Scene. — From a Painting found at Pompeii. 

The comic and tragic theatres stand near each other, and contiguous to a public 
building surrounded with colonnades, and supposed to have been the Forum Nundi- 
narium. 

This forum is of an oblong shape, and bordered by columns of the Doric order, 
without bases ; the materials of which they are composed being tufo stuccoed, and 
painted either red or yellow, as was the general practice at Pompeii. These columns 
still exhibit figures in armor, and names of persons, traced, no doubt, by the ancient 
inhabitants of this forum to while away their vacant hours. Within the colonnades 
are rooms of various dimensions, supposed to have served as shops and magazines 
for merchandise, some of the largest being about fifteen feet square ; and above these 
rooms was a second story, which appears to have been surrounded with wooden bal- 
conies. In one room was found an apparatus for making soap, in another a mill for 
pulverizing corn, and in another an apparatus for expressing oil. On the eastern 
side of this forum were stalls for cattle ; and in the prison or guardhouse were found 
skeletons in the stocks, armor, and the crest of a helmet adorned with a representa- 
tion of the siege of Troy : the ancient forums were always guarded by soldiers, an(? 
therefore the place wherein the stocks and armor were found most probably was the 
guardhouse. The square contains a fountain of excellent water, a small ancient 
table, and likewise a large modern table, shaded by weeping willows, so as to make 
a pleasant dining-place in viAarm weather. The model of 'he stocks, the skulls of the 
persons whose skeletons were found in them, and some of the half-finished sculpture 
discovered in the statuary's shop, are kept here. 

The Amphitheatre. — In the centre of a spacious piazza (probably a circus for char- 
iot races), stands this colossean edifice, which, when disentombed, was so perfect 
that the paintings on the stuccoed wall surrounding the arena appeared as fresh as 
if only just finished ; but, on being -too suddenly exposed to the air, the stucco 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 415 

cracked and fell off, so that very few paintings now rennain. The form of this am- 
phitheatre is oval, the architecture particularly fine, and a handsome arcade, once 
embellished with statues, the niches and inscriptions belonging to which still remain, 
leads down to the principal entrance. This arcade is paved with lava, and the stat- 
ues it contained were those of C. Cuspius Pansa and his son. The amphitheatre 
rests upon a circular subterranean corridor of incredible strength, as it supports all 
the seats. An iron railing seems to have defended the spectators who sat in the first 
rtw, and the entrances of the arena appear to have been defended by iron grates. 
Th^i walls of the podium, when first unburied, displayed beautiful paintings, but, on 
being exposed to the air, they were destroyed, like those in the arena. Above a 
flight of steps leading to the upper seats is a basso-relievo, in marble, which repre- 
sents a charioteer driving over his opponent; and above the seats is a gallery, which 
was appropriated to female spectators ; it encircles the top of the edifice, and com- 
mands a magnificent prospect of Vesuvius, Castelamare, the site of Stabiffi, the mouth 
of the Sarno, and the beautiful bay of Naples; and in the upper part of the circular 
wall of this gallery are blocks of stone, pierced to receive the poles which supported 
the awning. The skeletons of eight lions, and one main, supposed to have been their 
keeper, were, according to report, discovered in this amphitheatre. 

Near the northern entrance to the amphitheatre are remains of a building furnished 
with a triclinium, and therefore supposed to have been the silicernium belonging to 
the edifice. 

By the late excavating there has been found the house of the Faun. A writer re- 
marks: " In 1829, the excavators at Pompeii discovered a house of unusual beauty 
and size. This house stands in a wide street which extends from the temple of For- 
tune to the ancient gate leading to Nola, dividing, as it were, Pompeii into two parts. 
The entrance to the house is on a large scale, and of a noble design — two uncommon 
circumstances, for the private houses generally are very unambitious. Almost at the 
threshold the entire perspective of this extensive mansion becomes apparent at the 
first glance. First, there is a large open atrium, the walls of which are enlivened by 
brilliant and diversified colors, and the pavements formed of blood-red jasper mixed 
with oriental and figured alabaster ; at ^he sides of the atrium are various small bed- 
rooms, a hall of audience, and dining-rooms. Beyond is a flower-garden ; in the cen- 
tre was a fountain, with a marble basin beneath to catch the falling waters. Four- 
and-twenty Ionic columns formed a portico around, and between the gratings, the 
statues, and the blue and purple curtains which waved in their intervals, other and 
more extensive colonnades might be perceived. Under the shade and cover of the 
porticoes are small temples where the household gods were worshipped. Tavo ele- 
gant bronze tripods smoked with perennial odors before the statues of Phosbus, of 
Concord, and the Graces, which were gathered up in fragments when the place was 
excavated. The view in the background was bounded by the summit of Mount Ve- 
suvius. 

Everything about the mansion remained in the same situation in which it was 
previous to its destruction. Large quantities of vases and household furniture of 
every form, of bronze and glass, were collected in every part, and cups, paterse, and 
plates of silver, were found laid out on several tables of marble. A fine statue in 
bronze of a faun, from which the house takes its name, was discovered in the centre 
of the atrium. The floors of the principal entrance, the dining-room, and the rooms 
which adjoined it, were paved with mosaics composed of minute pieces of marble, 
almost all of natural colors, representing in one place a rich festoon of fruit, of flow- 
ers, and of scenic masks ; in another, the seashore, with fish and shells ; again, with 
ducks, and birds in the claws of a cat; a lion darting on his prey forms another sub- 
ject ; and a fifth represents Bacchus upon a panther. The little deity, crowned with 
ivy, supports a large wine-cup in one hand, and with the other a garland of vine- 
leaves and flowers, which fall and encircle in an elegant manner the neck of the 
panther. In this chamber were found two large and heavy gold bracelets, two ear- 
rings, and seven rings with most beautifully-engraved gems, besides a heap of gold, 
silver, and bronze coins and medals. 

The women's apartments are separated from the other part of the habitation; 
they stretch along the side of the atrium and the garden.v Behind the garden, in a 
delightful and picturesque situation, there is a dining-haU'with a triclinium.* The 

* The ancient Romans took their meals, not seated on chairs, but in a recumbent posture. The tri 
clinium, so frequently alluded to, was the thing they reclined upon when dining and supping. 



416 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

waters of the Nile, represented in mosaic, seem to rua upon the floor between the 
columns which decorate the entrance to this hall, and present to the guests a view 
of its banks covered with birds, plants, and foreign animals. Conspicuous among 
the animals are the hippopotamus (which is now rarely or ever found in that part 
of the Nile familiarly known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, though in their 
. time it seems to have abounded in Egypt) and the crocodile, as shown in the lower 
compartments of the illustration, where the black circles mark the position of the 
pillars. The floor of the dining-hall is covered with a large and spirited picture in 
mosaic (see engraving), measuring fifteen feet by seven feet eight inches. All that 
we can safely say on the subject of this picture is, that it represents a battle between 
Greeks and Persians. Thus much, indeed, is made out by the costume, arms, and 
countenances of the combatants. 

Italian critics, who are apt to lose too much time on these uncertain subjects, and 
to be too positive in their opinions, seem, however, to have decided that this splendid 
mosaic must either represent the battle of Platea, in Greece, or the great conflict be- 
tween Alexander and Darius, at Issus, in Asia. On the supposition of its represent- 
ing the battle of Issus, Signor Bonucci, Professor Quaranta, and others, have pro- 
ceeded very boldly, and have not only recognised Alexander the Great, but the true 
portrait of Darius, " which has hitherto been wholly unknown." 

Our readers may choose between Issus and Platea ; but it is probably neither, and 
only a fancy battle-piece. There can be no doubt, however, as to the excellence of 
the mosaic as a work of art, or that it represents a conflict in which the valorous, 
disciplined Greeks are obtaining a victory over the Persians. The eastern chief, in 
his war-chariot, drawn by four horses, his charioteer flogging the horses into speed, 
and the confusion created by this flight are represented with infinite spirit and truth, 
and tell a very intelligible, though a somewhat general story. 

Our readers must be reminded that a few years before Pompeii was buried by the 
volcano it was very much damaged by an earthquake, and also that the inhabitants 
of the devoted town were in the act of repairing these damages when the eruption 
began. 

It appears that the mosaic floor now under our consideration was partially ruined 
by this earthquake, and that, between the earthquake and the eruption, attempts 
were made to restore it. These restorations are in a very coarse, imperfect style. It 
is much better to possess this valuable and venerable relic of art, mutilated as it is, 
than 10 have it disguised by rifacciamentos. By studying the engraving, our readers 
will have a very good notion of the composition, and another insight into that ancient 
world of art which is best calculated to elevate and direct their taste. 

Signor Bonucci and others say, that in contemplating the original work, when first 
discovered and cleaned, they were so much struck with some of the Persian heads, 
that they thought they had never seen anything so perfect, and that they might stand 
a comparison with the finest heads of Raphael. They also add, that in the original 
the colors are at once vivid and harmonious ; that the sky has a wonderful transpa- 
rency and appearance of atmosphere in it ; and that the figures, both of men and 
horses, are admirably drawn, and full of life and action. 

City Walls. — Pompeii was fortified by double walls built with large pieces of tufo, 
one wall encompassing the city, the other passing through the centre of a ditch, made 
to strengthen the fortification ; and between these walls is the broad platform of the 
ancients, which at Pompeii seems to have been twenty feet in breadth. The walls 
were about twenty feet high, some parts consisting of smooth stones from four to five 
feet square, and apparently not joined by any cement, though placed wiih such skill 
as to resemble one entire mass; while other parts are ill-built, with rough stones of 
various shapes and sizes, and were, perhaps, hastily piled together after the destruc- 
tive earthquake of the year 63. Curious characters are engraved on some of those 
stones. The walls were fortified with low, square towers, and the four gates of the 
city stood at right angles. 

The number of skeletons hitherto found in Pompeii and its suburbs is said to be 
less than three hundred — a small proportion of its inhabitants, if we may judge from 
an advertisement found on the outside of a large private house, and importing that 
it was to be let for five years, together with nine hundred shops, all belonging to the 
same person ; and supposing no mistake to have arisen with respect to the import of 
this advertisement, how great must have been the trade, and consequent population, 
of a city where one individual possessed nine hundred shops! 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



417 




418 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

No traveller should neglect an opportunity of visiting Pompeii, which exhibits, even 
now, one of the most interesting objects in the known world ; and when first disen- 
tombed, when skeletons were seen in the houses ; when lamps, candelabra, glass of 
various kinds and shapes, ornamental vases, culinary utensils, and even the very 
bread of the sufi"ocated inhabitants, were discernible ; when the temples were filled 
with statues of heathen deities, and adorned with all the elegant and costly embel- 
lishments of heathen worship, what a speculation must this city have furnished to a 
thinking mind ! and though the greater part of its moveable wealth now enriches 
the royal Neapolitan museums, still to visit it, even now, is absolutely to live with 
the ancients. And when we see houses, shops, furniture, implements of husbandry, 
&c., &c., exactly similar to those of the present day, we are apt to conclude that cus- 
toms and manners have undergone but little variation for the last two thousand years. 
The practice of consulting augurs, and that of hiring persons to weep at funerals, are 
still kept up in the mountainous and secluded parts of Tuscany ; and the Tuscan cat- 
tle, when destined for slaughter, are frequently adorned with chaplets of flowers, pre- 
cisely as the ancients used to adorn their victims for sacrifice. The Roman butchers, 
likewise, still wear the dress, and use the knife, of heathen sacrificing priests. The 
old Roman custom of not eating but one regular meal a day, and that about the ninth 
hour of Italy (three o'clock with us), is kept up by many of the Italians ; and during 
the month of May it is common to see peasants dressed, as in former times, like 
Pan, satyrs, &c. I do not, however, mean to infer, from what I have said, that the 
modern Greeks and Italians equal the ancients in works of art, there being, in this 
respect, a considerable difference between the present race and their forefathers. 

Although the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum have their attractions, yet by far 
the most attractive feature around Naples is the world-renowned volcano of Mount 
Vesuvius. This celebrated volcano is situated on the shores of the bay* of Naples, 
to whose singularity and beauty it adds in a striking degree. A volcanic mountain 
might be considered as anything but a pleasant neighbor, yet, except when it is in a 
state of violent eruption, the Neapolitans look upon it without dread. Though Her- 
culaneum, Pompeii, Stabia, and other places of less note, lie buried by the lava and 
other matter thrown out by the volcano, still many beautiful towns and villages flour- 
ish around Vesuvius with numerous and happy populations. Some of these places 
are not only built over ancient interred cities, but have themselves in modern times 
experienced the violence of the volcano, and been wholly or partially destroyed by 
vast rivers of lava. This is particularly the case, as already stated, with Torre-del- 
Greco, where the road is deeply cut through a bed of lava, and where other broad 
beds of the same material (which in some places have encroached far into the sea, 
forming little volcanic promontories) are found on every side of the town. The in- 
habitants, however, in their attachment to the spot, have always persisted in building 
their houses above those that have been buried, thus keeping up, as it were, a strug- 
gle with one of the most fearful powers of nature. 

The mountain is little more than four miles from the city of Naples, and, owing to 
the transparency of the atmosphere, seems even less. It rises quite alone from the 
plain, declining on one side to the shores of the sea, and on the other toward a chain 
of the Apennines. 

Its base occupies an irregular space, said to be about twelve miles round ; it rises 
conically to the height of somewhat more than three thousand feet, where it termi- 
nates in two mamillse or breasts, one of which is called Somme, the other being that 
of the great crater of the volcano. From its form and entirely isolated situation, it 
looks like some tumulus or sepulchral barrow, except where broken by some chasms, 
and covered by courses of the lava, which have not yet had time to acquire a super- 
ficies of soil and vegetable matter. Mount Vesuvius is cultivated and inhabited for 
two thirds of its height. The soil that accumulates over, and is mainly produced by 
volcanic matter of diff'erent natures, is wonderfully firm and admirably adapted for 
vineyards. Here are produced the far-famed Lachryma Christi (tears of Christ), the 
Greco, and other wines of superior quality. 

The ascent to the mountain, though steep and very rugged, may be performed on 
mules or asses as far as what is called the Hermitage, a lonely little building on a 
flat, from which rises the crater or terminating cone of Vesuvius. But hence the 
remainder of the ascent, which may be about one fourth of the entire height of the 
mountain, is difficult and fatiguing in the extreme. The outer sides of the acute cone 
by which you have to climb are nothing but a deep accumulation of cinders, ashes, 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



419 




420 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

and other yielding volcanic matter, into which your legs sink, and where you lose at 
least one out of every three steps you take. Even hardy and active men have been 
known to throw themselves down on the sides of the cone in a complete state of ex- 
haustion, long before they could reach the top ; but the summit once gained, fatigue 
is repaid by prospects of beauty which are scarcely rivalled upon earth. Naples, 
and all the towns which we have mentioned, lie at your feet; before you flows th€ 
magnificent bay, studded with islands ; and inland stretches the luxuriant plain of 
Campagna Felice, with cities and towns, and with villas and hamlets, almost too 
numerous to count, while the sweeping chain of the Apennines forms the extreme 
background to the picture. 

"We have noticed the views first, as they are of greater interest than the interior 
of the crater. This is nothing, in ordinary times, but a great funnel, shaped hollow, 
round the edges of which you can walk in perfect safety, and look down the curious 
depth. A modern writer, who descended into it in the summer of 1816, when the 
mountain had been inactive for some years, emitting only from time to time a little 
smoke, thus describes his progress : — ^, 

" Provided with ropes, which the ciceroni, or guides, held at the edge of the hol- 
low, he and a friend went down the shelving side for about one hundred and fifty 
feet, when they landed on a circular flat that sounded hollow beneath their feet, but 
presented nothing very remarkable, except a number of furmorali, or little holes, 
through which smoke ascended. The interior of the crater was coated with lapilla 
and sulphur, and in color a yellowish white. The fumes of the sulphur and the 
pungent smoke, from the little holes at the bottom of the crater, compelled a very 
speedy retreat, which was made with some difficulty, and without any addition to 
their knowledge of volcanoes. It must be observed that this principal crater, on the 
summit of the mountain, is always considerably altered in its form and features when 
the eruption proceeds from it, and moreover, that it is by no means the sole vent 
which the subterranean fire of Vesuvius finds. On the contrary, the fire and lava 
often issue from the sides of the mountain far below, while the superior funnel only 
emits smoke. In the winter of 1820, a mouth was ibund at the foot of the superior 
cone, and nearly on a level with the hermitage of San Salvatore. To use a homely 
comparison, this vent was not unlike the mouth of a baker's oven ; but a consid- 
erable stream of lava, which, when in a state of perfect fusion, resembles molten 
iron, issued from it, and flowed down a chasm in the direction of Torre-del-Greco, 
the place which has so often suffered from the eruptions. A singular and deliberate 
suicide was committed here. An unhappy Frenchman walked up the mountain, and 
threw himself in at the source of this terrific stream. The men who conducted him 
said afterward, that he had a quantity of gunpowder about his person ! He scarcely 
could have needed its agency, for the intense fire must have consumed him, skin, 
flesh, and bones, in a very few seconds. But though the eruptions of Mount Vesu- 
vius do not always proceed, from the grand crater, it must alsoTae said, that those 
that do are by far the most sublime in their effects, and that nothing can well be im- 
agined more picturesque and striking, than to see, by night, the summit of that lofiy 
cone crowned by fire, as it frequently is, for many succeeding weeks. The finest 
view under those circumstances is from the bay, over the waters of which it often 
happens that the moon throws a broad path of silvery light in one direction, and the 
volcano the blood-red reflections of its flames in another." 

The earliest and one of the most fatal eruptions of Vesuvius is that previously men- 
tioned, which took place in 79, in tiie reign of Titus. All Campagna was filled with 
consternation, and the country was overwhelmed with devastation in every direction : 
towns, villages, palaces, and " all which they inherit," were consumed by molten 
lava, and hidden from the sight by showers of volcanic stones, cinders, and ashes. 
Pompeii had suffered severely from an earthquake sixteen years before the eruption 
of 79, and had heen rebuilt and adorned with many a stately building, particularly a 
magnificent theatre, where thousands were congregated to see the gladiatorial shows, 
when this tremendous visitation burst upon the devoted city, and burying its site to a 
considerable depth with the fiery materials thrown from the crater. " Day was turned 
into night," says a classic author, "and night into darkness; an inexpressible quan- 
tity of dust and ashes was poured out, deluging land, sea, and air, and burying 
two entire cities, Herculaneum and Pompeii, while the people were sitting in the 
theatre." 
It was during the eruption of 79, that Pliny, the naturalist, fell a victim to sufToca- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 421 

tion, as did Agrippa. The particulars of the eruption of 1779 are known to every 
schoolboy, and although vividly described by Sir William Hamilton (an eyewitness), 
it is unnecessary to quote, because their details, able as they are, would be but a 
repetition of the younger Pliny and Dion Cassius, with modern dates. We shall 
close our account by an able description of the eruption of 1822, from the pen of the 
writer we have before quoted : — 

" The volcano had been unusually quiet for several months, without so much as a 
wreath of smoke proceeding from the great crater, or from any part of it, when sud- 
denly, on a Sunday evening, late in the month of October, two columns of fire were 
seen to ascend from the summit of the great cone. The quantity of fire was incon- 
siderable. The burning stones and other ignited matter seemed all to fall back into 
the broad crater from which they were ejected, and there was no appearance that 
this would be anything more than one of the frequent minor eruptions that cause 
neither mischief nor alarm. During the night the eruption continued as it had begun. 
On Monday the mountain offered only a small column of smoke. When the sun 
set, and darkness came on, the fire was again visible on the top of the cone, but du- 
ring the whole of Monday night there was no increase, and on Tuesday morning the 
volume of smoke was as insignificant as on the preceding day. But about two hours 
past noon on Tuesday, all at once, a rumbling noise, of terrific loudness, was heard, 
and the next instant an immense column of fleecy smoke burst from the crater, and 
towered slowly and majestically upAvard, until it attained an extreme elevation in 
the atmosphere, when it spread itself laterally, and for some time continued to pre- 
sent a consistent and defined form, like that of the Italian pine-tree. In this it was a 
beautiful object, its form being .graceful, and its flaky, white color relieved by the 
deep, pure blue of an Italian sky. But soon other throbs and groans of the volcano 
were heard, smoke of a dark brown color burst from the crater, the head of the 
gigantic column swelled in size, and spreading in all directions, and becoming darker 
and darker, soon covered every part of the sky, and lost all shape. By this time alarm 
had struck, not only the population in the immediate neighborhood of the mountain, 
but the inhabitants of Naples itself. 

"All thronged to the shores of the bay, or to the hills, or to the outside of the 
town, to gaze with terrified looks at Vesuvius. But it was not until the fall of night 
that the scene displayed all its terrors. Then an immense pillar of fire was seen to 
rise from the cone, and red-hot stones and disrupted rocks to ascend with it, and in 
their descent either to fall back into the crater, or to roll down the outside of the cone 
with fearful violence and rapidity. To this there was no pause. The pillar of fire 
never grew paler or less, and the burning stones and rocks succeeded each other 
without intermission or decrease. If our readers could imagine ten thousand pieces 
of ordnance discharging red-hot shot in the air, in conjunction with ten thousand of 
the greatest rockets, still they would leave an inadequate idea of this mighty erup- 
tion, and of the noise that accompanied it. 

" The column of fire threw a horrid blood glare over part of the bay, and a small 
portion of the sky ; while from the dense clouds of smoke that continually increased, 
the most vivid forked liglitning flashed at every second. The ghastly blue of these 
long zigzag flashes contrasted strangely with the red color of the volcanic fire, and, 
as they darted on either side, and high above the head of the pillar, rising from the 
crater, they produced an eflect which baffles all description of the pen, or the in- 
genuity of the pencil. To all this must be added that a continuous issue of lava now 
came from the cone, and rolled down toward the sea, as a vast river of fire, while 
another stream of lava, scarcely less in magnitude, but not visible from Naples, 
flowed in the direction of the now disinterred city of Pompeii. Through the crowd- 
ed city terror seemed to keep all eyes open, and numerous processions with figures 
of madonnas and saints were seen hurrying to particular churches, and the suburbs 
facing Vesuvius, to implore the protection of Heaven. On the road to Portici the 
scene was still more melancholy : thousands and thousands of aff"righted peasants 
from villages on the mountain's sides, and towns-people from Portici, Resina, the 
Torre-del-Greco, and other villages, were flying toward Naples, with such of their 
property as they could remove, or were lying out in the fields, or on the road near to 
the walls of the capital. The aged and the infirm, weeping women, and helpless 
children, were huddled together, with the conviction that their homes, their gar- 
dens, and their vineyards, must inevitably be consumed and buried by the descend- 
ing lava. 



422 SCE^^ES AKD SKETCHES IN 

" The writer reached Re&ina, and iheuce walked up the mountaia to the hermi- 
tage of Sari Salvatore, which is situated on a flat at the foot of the terminating cone, 
in which is the great crater. Here he found several English, and among them some 
ladies, whose anxiety to view this sublime spectacle near at hand had conquered 
their fears. From the hermitage he advanced nearer to the cone, and then descended 
into a hoUow, through which the great river of lava was flowing. As he approached 
it, he saw it come in contact with a fine large vineyard. The low dried vines were 
set on fire immediately, and, blazing all over in an instant, the destructive element 
spread to another and another vineyard, until considerable mischief was done. 

" The lava, as in every eruption he has seen, so far from being rapid, was exceed- 
ingly slow in its course, flowing only a few feet in a minute. At this time it seemed 
tending directly to the unfortunate town of Torre-del-Greco, which it threatened to 
overwhelm, but it afterward turned aside, and, following another hollow, rolled into 
a wide and deep chasm of the mountain. He then attempted to ascend by the side 
of this burning river toward the cone, but its heat, which set fire to brushwood and 
little trees at several feet distance, became insupportable. At every throe of the 
volcano the mountain shook beneath his feet, and he was already so near that the 
lapilla from the crater fell upon him like hail. This sort of ash, which is called 
lapilla, is an exceedingly light and porous substance, resembling pumice-stone ; and 
though it fell so thickly, and in pieces as large as walnuts, it caused little annoy- 
ance. But the heat, as it has been said, was insupportable ; and as the fumes of the 
sulphur became still more so, causing a most disagreeable sensation of suffocation, 
he returned to the hermitage. In a shori time the quantity of smoke was so great, 
and was so black, that it obscured the lava that produced it. Nothing could now be 
seen distinctly, except the lightning flashing through a pitchy sky, and a part of a 
column of fire from the crater, looking a lurid red. The noise, tremendous even as 
far off" as Naples, was, at a spot so'near the hermitage, utterly astounding. It should 
be noticed that this noise was produced by the passage through the air of the matter 
which the volcano ejected, and then the fall of that matter : for the forked lightning 
was unaccompanied by thunder — it only played close round and above the crater, and 
seemed produced by electric fluid issuing thence, and to depend on the dense black 
clouds that flanked the ascending column of fire. 

" The violence of this eruption was little abated for two days and nights. Fortu- 
nately, however, the lava, in the course it took, did not find any town or village to 
destroy, and the lapilla, and ashes and dust, that fell in almost inconceivable quanti- 
ties in every place in the neighborhood, were not difficult to retnove, and indeed hhat 
being the rainy season) were mainly washed away by the heavy rains shortly after. 

"When the smoke cleared away from the mountain, which it did not for many 
days, it was perceived that the eruption had carried away the edges or lips of the 
crater, and materially altered the shape and lowered the cone of Vesuvius. The 
lava, by this time, though its outer coating had cooled to such a degree that you 
could walk over it, still burned beneath ; and it was many days more before what 
had been rivers of liquid fire became cold. 

" The main stream of lava was about fifty feet wide on an average. It ran f jr 
more than a mile ; and had not the eruption ceased and stopped at its fountain-head, 
even in the direction it had taken, it would have soon destroyed a beautiful district 
between Vesuvius and the sea." 



Restored View of Pompeii. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 423 



CHAPTER XVIL— ITALY. 

P^STXTH. — Travellers seldom leave Italy without visiting the most magnificent 
ruins to be found in the world, viz., those of Psestum. This city, supposed to be the 
ancient Poseidonia of a colony of Sybarite adventurers (who, on landing here, found a 
town, drove its inhabitants to the mountains, and established themselves in their 
stead), appears, from its name, to have been dedicated to Neptune by the Greeks. 
The Sybarites, however, were supplanted by the Lucanians, and these by the Ro- 
mans, under whose dominion Poseidonia assumed the name of Psestum ; and, after 
having survived the Roman empire in the Avest, was destroyed by the Saracens about 
the commencement of the tenth century.* Previous to describing the ruins of this 
venerable city, it seems expedient to remark that some of these ruins appear to be 
of much higher antiquity than others, probably because the Sybarites, after having 
banished and succeeded the original inhabitants, supposed to have been Etrurians, 
repaired the Avails, embellished the temples, and erected baths and other edifices con- 
genial to the taste of an opulent and luxurious nation : and when Poseidonia fell un- 
der the yoke of the Romans, it is natural to imagine that they might have introduced 
Roman architecture. 

The Walls of Pcesium. — These walls, like those of Pompeii, are composed of very 
large smooth stones, put together Avith such nicety, that it is difficult to distinguish 
where they join. They are two and a half miles in circumference, and nearly of an 
elliptical form ; their height seems to have been about fifty feet, their breadth or plat- 
form about twenty, and they were fortified by eight Ioav towers, twenty-four feet 
square within, and at the windows twenty-three inches thick. These towers are less 
ancient than the walls, and some of the stones which compose them measure five 
feet in length. 

The Gates. — Pssstum had four gates, placed at right angles, but that which fronts 
the east alone remains perfect: it consists of one simple arch, about fifty feet high, 
and built of stones incredibly massive. On the key-stone of this arch it was easy 
once to discern tAVO basso-relievoes : the one representing the Sirena Pestana holding 
a rose, the other representing a dolphin, ancient symbols of a maritime people ; time, 
however, has so far obliterated these symbols, that they are not now observable. 
Within the gate was a second Avail, and between the two are remains of soldiers' 
barracks, and likewise of the ancient pavement of the city, which resembles that of . 
Pompeii. On the outside of the northern gate are several vestiges of tombs, some 
of which appear to have been lined with painted stucco. Grecian, armor, and vases 
of rare beauty, exhibiting Greek inscriptions, were found in many of them. 

Temple of Neptune. — This edifice, the most majestic, and apparently the most 
ancient here, or indeed in any other part of the European world, is composed of 
stone, evidently created by the torpedo touch of the Silaro : for, like the stone of 
Tivoli, it consists of wood, and various other substances petrified ; and though dura- 
ble as granite, abounds with so many small cavities, that it resembles cork. The 
shape of this temple, supposed to have been consecrated to Neptune, is quadrilateral : 
its length, out and out, is a hundred and ninety-seven feet, and its breadth eighty. 
It has two fronts, both being adorned with a pediment, supported by six enormous 
fluted columns. Each side is supported by twelve columns (those in the angles not 
being counted twice), and a Doric frieze and cornice encompass the whole building. 
The abovenamed exterior columns, generally composed of six, though in a few in- 
stances of seven blocks of stone, are in height only twenty-seven .feet ; their circum- 
ference at the bottom is twenty feet six inches ; but considerably less at the top : and 
the number of flutings to each column is twenty-four. They have no bases, but rest 
on the third step of the platform on which the edifice is erected. The capitals are 
quite simple, and more in the style of Hindoo architecture than any other. Two 
flights of steps lead to the two vestibules, each of which is supported by two pilasters 

* The temples of Paestum were visited by Augustus as venerable antiquities, even in his days, but 
appear during modern times to have been totally forgotten, till discovered in 1755 by a young painter 
of Naples, who once more brought them into public notice. 



424 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




Interior of the Temple of Neptune at Pffistam. 



with two columns between them, the breadth of each vestibule being eleven feet six 
inches. Tlj^e cella, forty-four feet in breadth, is enclosed by four dwarf walls, and 
adorned with fourteen columns, disposed in the same manner as the exterior row, but 
less massive, the circumference at the bottom being only thirteen feet ten inches, and 
much less at the top, and the flulings to each only twenty in number. The situation 
of the high-altar, and those on which victims were sacrificed and oflferings made, is 
discoverable, and it appears that these altars fronted the east. The interior columns 
support an immense architrave, on which rises another set of still smaller columns, 
destined perhaps to support the roof of the portico: five of these columns remain on 
one side, and three on the other. Gigantic steps, about five feet deep and three in 
number, lead up to the platform on which the temple stands, and encompass it on 
every side. There being only three steps seems extraordinary : because they are so 
inconveniently deep, that it is scarcely possible to ascend them. But as the number 
three was sacred and typical among the ancients, this might perhaps be the cause 
why the Psestum temples are surrounded by three steps only. The largest stone of 
this stupendous edifice contains one way thirteen feet eight inches, and another two 
feet three inches, making altogether one hundred and four cubic feet. 

Some authors suppose the Etrurians were originally Cananeans ; and if this be ad- 
mitted, it will appear probable that when they emigrated to the European continent 
their first landing-place might be Paestum : and it seems equally probable that, on 
landing, they might erect the stupendous temple we have endeavored to describe. 

An ancient inscription at Palermo is written in Chaldean characters : and therefore 
some persons suppose the primitive inhabitants of Palermo to have been emigrants 
from Chaldeaand Damascus; and if this conjecture be well founded, the Etrurians 
were more probably of Chaldean than Cananean origin. Another circumstance 
merits notice : the inside walls of the most ancient sepulchral monuments at Psestum 
exhibit paintings; and we learn from the prophet Isaiah that the Chaldeans were in 
the habit of painting the walls of their apartments. 

The basilic, so called because no appearance is exhibited here either of altars or a 
cella, is an edifice which stands, like the temple of Neptune, on a quadrilateral plat- 
form. Its length, out and out, is a hundred and sixty-eight feet six inches, and its 
breadth eighty feet six inches. It has two fronts, each being adorned by nine fluted 
columns without bases, and resting on the third step of the platform, which step is 
five feet two inches deep. Each side is adorned by sixteen columns (the angular col- 
umns not being counted twice), resting likewise on the first step of the platform : the 
circumference of the largest columns at the bottom is fourteen feet six inches, and at 
the top much less. Both fronts have a vestibule, and the interior of the building is 
supposed to have been divided into equal parts by coluiuns placed in a straight line 
from one entrance to the other ; but only three of these columns now remain, and 
they do not range with the exterior ones. Where these three columns stand, the 
pavement seems to have been raised ; and probably this spot was appropriated to the 
magistrates. The portico, which is supposed to have been appropriated to the com- 
mon people, measures in breadth fifteen feet, and the cross-walk fifteen feet six inches. 
A Doric frieze and cornice adorn the outside of the edifice. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



425 




423 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Temple of Ceres. — This temple, supposed to have been dedicated to Ceres, though 
smaller, and consequently less imposing than that of Neptune, exhibits a lighter and 
more elegant style of architecture. Its form is quadrilateral : its length, out and out, 
is a hundred and eight feet, and its breadth forty-eight. There are two fronts, each 
being adorned with six columns, which support a magnificent entablature and a ped- 
iment. Each side presents twelve columns, supporting a similar entablature ; and 
every column is fluted, and rests, without base, on the third step of the platform on 
which the temple stands ; the diameter of each column is four feet at the bottom, less 
at the top, and the height thirty feet. At the entrance is a vestibule, supported by 
six columns with plain round bases ; and beyond are four steps leading to the ceila, 
which is twenty-five feet wide, and encompassed on the four sides by a dwarf wall. 
The situation of the high-altar, and of those, whereon victims were sacrificed and 
offerings made, is discoverable ; these altars fronted the east. Remains of sarcophagi 
are likewise discoverable within the precincts of this temple, the outside of which is 
adorned with a Doric frieze and cornice ; and all its columns, together with those of 
the basilic and the temple of Neptune, appear to have been stuccoed. The pavement 
of these buildings was mosaic. 

The Theatre. — This edifice is almost totally destroyed ; but the fragments of grif- 
fens and fine basso-relievoes which have been found here evince that it was erected 
at a period when sculpture was rising fast to its zenith of perfection. 

The Amphitheatre. — This edifice likewise is nearly destroyed: it appears to have 
been of an oval form, a hundred and seventy feet wide, by a hundred and twenty 
long. Ten rows of seats, and some of the caves for wild beasts, may still be traced. 
It stood precisely in the centre of the town. 

The great antiquity of Psestum, and the uncertainty as to what its remaining edi- 
fices originally were, and to whom they belonged, bring to our recollection a cele- 
brated Italian sonnet, which may be thus imitated : — 

"'Say, Time — wl'.os-e, once, yon stately pile,' I cried, 
' Wliicli now thoi] crumbiest, ruthless, with the soil V 
He answered not, but spread his pinions wide, 
And flew, with eager haste, to ampler spoil. 

" ' Say, then, prolific Fame, whose breath supplies 
Life to each work of wonder — what were tlwse ?' 
Abashed, with blushes only she replies, 
Like one whose bosom heaves with secret throes. 

" Lost in amaze, I turned my steps aside — 
When round the pile I saw Oblivion glide. 

And scatter poppies o'er each vacant shrine: 
' Speak !' I exclaimed — ' for once, mute nymph, reveal — 
Yet wherefore from thy lips remove the seal ? — 

Whose once it was avails not — tiow 'tis thine !' " 

Benevento is a dukedom in the Neapolitan province Principato Oltra (eighty-six 
square miles, with twenty thousand inhabitants), which, including a city and eight 
villages, belongs to the papal see. In 1806, Napoleon made a present of it to his 
minister Talleyrand, who received thence the title of prince of Benevento. In 1815, 
it was restored to the pope. Cattle, grain, wine, oranges, and dead game, are ex- 
ported. The public revenue amounts to six hundred dollars. In 1820, the inhabit- 
ants revolted. In the most remote times, the state of Benevento belonged to the 
country of the Samnites. The Lombards, in 571, made it a dukedom, which, long 
after the extinction of the Lombard kingdom, remained independent. At a later pe- 
riod, it fell into' the hands of the Saracens and Normans. The city, however, was 
not conquered by the latter, because Henry III. had given it to the pope, Leo IX. 
The city is built on a hill between the rivers Sabato and Calore, has about fourteen 
thousand inhabitants, eight churches, and nineteen convents. Since 969, it has been 
the see of an archbishop. It has several manufactories. 

Few cities in Italy deserve so much attention, on account of the antiquities which 
they contain, as Benevento. Almost every wall consists of fragments of altars, sep- 
ulchres, columns, and entablatures. Among other things, the well-preserved, mag- 
nificent triumphal arch of Trajan, built in 114, deserves particular mention. It is 
now called porta aurea (the golden gate), and is a gate of the city. It was erected 
in honor of Trajan, and is one of the most interesting remains of antiquity ; but not 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



427 




428 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

being in the ordinary route of travellers, it is comparatively little known. The col- 
umns are of the composite order, and are placed on a common pedestal, the base of 
which is in the Grecian style : the proportions of the various parts are considered re- 
markably fine. The architectural perfection of this monument of Roman triumph 
and power is not its sole claim to admiration, as the sculptures with which it is or- 
namented are equally appropriate and excellent. The space between the columns 
is transversely separated with much taste by a small frieze, and the compartments 
are filled with bas-reliefs. The inscription is placed on a projection of the parapet, 
and on each side are large figures in bas-relief, in the same style as those on the arch 
of Constantine. They represent different actions in the life of Trajan, and are not 
inferior, either in conception or execution, to those for which the arch at Rome in 
honor of the same emperor has been so deservedly celebrated. Trajan was made 
emperor at the close of the first century. He exhibited great military qualities, and. 
was liberal and enlightened as a statesman.^ Bred in the camp, he was not versed in 
literature, but he was, nevertheless, anxious to cultivate the friendship of men of 
talent. He appointed Pliny to the government of Pontus and Bithynia, and a series 
of letters passed between him and the emperor which afford many proofs of Trajan's 
sound judgment and good understanding. Trajan subjugated the Dacians ; and his 
wars with them and the Parthians, and other people in the East, form the chief mil- 
itary exploits of his reign. The site of the bridge which he erected across the Dan- 
ube is no longer known, and modern art is only just attempting to effect a similar 
work. For a period of two hundred and fifty years after his death the senators were 
accustomed to greet the accession of a new emperor with the wish that he might be 
more fortunate than Augustus and better than Trajan. 

Let us now retrace our steps, return to the north of Italy, and look at some of 
the cities in that region. And first of Bologna : — 

Bologna is one of the oldest, largest, and richest cities of Italy, and has colonnades 
along the sides of the streets for foot-passengers. It is called la grassa (the fat) ; 
lies at the foot of the Apennines, between the rivers Reno and Savena, and contains 
65,300 inhabitants, and 8,000 houses, with manufactories of cordage, soap, paper, 
artificial flowers, and arms. Bologna is the capital of the papal delegation of the 
same name, the secular concerns of which are administered by a cardinal legate, 
who resides here ; while the archbishop directs in spiritual affairs. A gonfalonicre, 
chosen every two months, with fifty senators and eight elders from the citizens, form 
a republican government, which has almost the whole management of the affairs of 
the city. The people of Bologna voluntarily submitted to the papal see in 1513, 
being tired of the party struggles among the nobles, by which the strength of the 
state was exhausted. Bologna has an ambassador in Rome, whose duty it is to 
maintain the limitations of the papal authority, according to the constitution, and 
who, after every new election of a pope, presents complaints of the encroachments 
of his predecessor. The city chooses, also, one of the judges composing the high 
court of appeals at Rome. Her armorial bearings are even now surrounded by the 
charmed word, lihertas. The pope, by the constitution, can exact no other tax than 
the excise on wine. During three centuries, the papal government endeavored to 
introduce in the city the excise on corn, but could not succeed. The rich nobility of 
the papal stateg live in Bologna, and are on bad terms with the head of the church. 
The city is also the residence of the old Bolognese patrician families, who have 
given many popes to the church. The most liberal men in the papal dominions are 
to be found among the learned of this city. In 1816, the nobility, scholars, and citi- 
zens, founded a Socratic society for the promotion of social happiness, which was, 
however, suspected of carbonarism. 

Bologna was long renowned for its university, founded according to tradition, by 
Theodosius the Younger, in 425, which, in the centuries of barbarism, spread the 
light of knowledge over all Europe, It once had ten thousand students, but the 
number at present is only three hundred. Here the celebrated Irnerius taught the 
civil law in the eleventh century ; and men like Bulgerus, Martinus, Jacobus, and 
Hugo, attracted pupils from every quarter. The university foriiierly possessed so 
much influence, that even the coins of the city bore its motto, bononio docet. The 
law-school enjoyed the greatest fame. Its teachers had the reputation of inculcating 
principles favorable to despotism, and were consequently rewarded by the favor of 
the emperors and of the Italian sovereigns. 
A citizen of Bologna, General-Count Fern. Marsigli, founded, in 1709, the Insti- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



4a: 




430 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

tulo delle Scienze, and gave it a library of almost 200,000 volumes; to which, in 
1825, the abbate Mezzofanti, professor of oriental languages, was appointed librarian. 
This learned man spoke a large number of living languages correctly and fluently 
(for instance, German in several dialects, Russian, Hungarian, Walachian, the lan- 
guage of the gipsies, &c.) without ever having left Bologna. The foreign troops in 
Italy gave him opportunities for learning ihem. Count Marsigli founded and en- 
dowed, also, an observatory, an anatomical hall, a botanical garden, and accumu- 
lated valuable collections for all branches of science and art. These are at present 
connected with the Academia Clementina of Pope Clement XI. In the sixteenth 
century, the famous painters and sculptors, Carracci, G-uidoReni, Domenichino, and 
Albano, founded a school, to which their works have given great reputation. There 
were, even as early as the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, great painters in this 
city. Francesco, called II Francia, was famous in the fifteenth century. 

The chief place of the city is adorned by several venerable buildings ; among 
them are the senate-hall (which contains a number of excellent pictures and statues, 
and the two hundred folio volumes of the famous natural philosopher, Ulysses Aldro- 
vandus, written with his own hand, as materials for future works), the palace of 
justice of the podesta, and the cathedral of St. Petronio, with its unfinished front, 
and the meridian of Cassini drawn upon a copper-plate in the floor. Among the 
seventy-three other churches, the following are distinguished : St. Pietro, St. Salva- 
tore, St. Domenichino, St. Giovanni in Monte, St. Giacomo Maggiore, all possessed 
of rich treasures of art. The collections of works of art are splendid and numerous. 

The galleries Sampieri and Zembeccari formerly exceeded all others, but are now 
surpassed by those of Marescalchi and Ercolani. The collection of the academy of 
painting, endowed, in modern times, by the municipality, principally with the treas- 
ures of abolished churches, is rich, and full of historical interest. The admired 
fountain of the market is deficient in nothing but water. It is adorned with a Nep- 
tune in bronze, by John of Bologna. The towers degli Asinelli and Garisenda. were 
formerly objects of admiration ; the former for its slenderness, which gave it the 
appearance of an oriental minaret ; the latter for its inclination from the perpendic- 
ular, which amounted to fourteen feet. It has since, however, been reduced to one 
third of lis former height, from precaution. Bologna has always been famous for 
cheap living, and has been chosen as a residence by many literary men. Gourmands 
praise it as the native country of excellent macaroni, sausages, liquors, and pre- 
served fruits. The schools for training animals enjoy, likewise, some reputation. 
The pilgrimage to the Madonna di St. Lucca, whose church is situated at the foot 
of the Apennines, half a league from the city, and to which an arcade of six hun- 
dred and forty arches leads, attracts a great number of people from all parts of Italy, 




Distant View of Venice from the Sea. 



Venice. — The celebrated city of Venice is situated near the northern extremity 
of the Adriatic. It was built in the fifth century ; and from the smallest beginnings 
it rose to such eminence as to become one of the most important states in Europe, 
For several centuries, until the discovery of a passage to India by the cape of Good 
Hope, it became immensely opulent by engrossing most of the trade to the East, 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



431 




432 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



Venice has seventy churches, thirty-nine monasteries, twenty-eight nunneries, and 
seventeen hospitals, and the religion of the people is that of the church of Rome. 

St. Mark's patriarchal church is the cathedral of Venice ; it is situated in the 
grand piazza, and is accounted one of the richest and most magnificent in the virorld. 
The Venetians pretend that they possess the body of the evangelist Mark ; and in 
the treasury of relics they believe they have the original copy of the gospel written 
by that inspired evangelist's own hand. 

The architecture of the church of St. Mark is of a mixed kind, mostly of the 
Gothic order, yet many of the pillars are Grecian. The outside is incrusted with 
marble ; the inside ceiling and floor are all of the most beautiful marble, as are the 
numerous pillars, and the whole is crowned with five domes. But all this expense 
and labor has been directed by a very moderate share of taste. The steeple of the 
cathedral stands insulated from the church, built of brick, square, twenty-five feet 
broad on each side, and three hundred and fifty feet high. 




St. Mark's Cathedral. 

The front of the cathedral, which looks to the palace, has five brazen gates, with 
historical basso-relievoes ; over the principal gates are placed the four celebrated 
bronze horses, gilt with brass, and of the incomparable workmanship, said to have 
been executed by the famous Lysippus. They were given to Nero the Roman 
emperor, by Tesides, king of Armenia, to be put to the chariot of the sun, for adorn- 
ing his triumphal arch, after he had conquered the warlike Parthians. The fiery 
spirit indicated by their countenances, and their animated attitudes, are perfectly 
agreeable to their original and fanciful destination. Nero placed them on the 
triumphal arch consecrated to him. They were removed by Constantine the Great 
to the Hippodrome at Constantinople, and remained there till the capture of that 
city by the French and Venetians, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, when 
they were conveyed to Venice. 

They were taken by the French soon after their successes in Italy placed Venice 
in their power, and removed to a prominent situation in Paris. A new political 
mutation, however, caused their restoration to Venice in 1815. 

One of the most interesting edifices in Venice is the Bridge of Sighs. It is thus 
described by Mr. Hoilier in his journal of a tour through this and other countries, a 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 433 

work which strongly exhibits the most desirable qualifications of a traveller — acute, 
persevering, and impartial observation : "Our next walk was to the Bridge of Sighs' 
and then down to view the dungeons. The Bridge of Sighs was, without question, 
a very correct appellation for that miserable path, which led the poor unfortunate 
objects of tyrannical hatred or superstition to such a Tartarus of wo as is there 
witnessed. Descending by a steep and narrow stone staircase, just wide enough to 
admit one person at a time to walk, we arrived, after traversing a passage of the 
same dimensions, at some holes, ranged in rows along this horribly confined place, 
and withal so low as obliged us to stoop our chins nearly to our knees to enter them, 
and when in, we found it impossible to stand upright ; some of them were all but 
dark, the greater number of them completely so. And below these another range, 
inferior in every sense, more close, more loathsome, and into which neither the light 
nor breath of heaven could possibly enter, as they are situated below the level of 
the canals. Surely the poor creatures destined to be inmates of these abodes of 
wretchedness must, on entering them, have bid a final adieu to hope in this world." 

The Bridge of Sighs is the avenue from this prison to the palace. It is a covered 
bridge or gallery, considerably elevated above the water, and divided by a stone 
wall into a passage and a cell ; it was into the latter that prisoners were taken, and 
there strangled. 

The most interesting of the public buildings, the ducal palace, remains to be 
noticed. This magnificent structure was for ages the seat of one of the most power- 
ful and terrible governments of Europe. " It is built," says Mr. Forsyth, " in a style 
which you may call arabesque, if you will, but it reverses the principles of all other 
architecture ; for here the solid rests upon the open ; a wall of enormous mass rests 
upon a slender fretwork of shafts, arches, and intersected circles." Near'the princi- 
pal entrance is a statue of the doge Foscaro in white marble; and opposite to the 
entrance are the magnificent steps called " the giant's staircase," from the colossal 
statues of Mars and Neptune, by which they are commanded. Here the doges of 
Venice received the symbols of sovereignty ; and upon the landing-place of these 
stairs the doge Marino Faliero was beheaded. " Here," says Mr. Roscoe, "the 
senate, which resembled a congress of kings rather than an assemblage of free 
merchants, the various councils of state, and the still more terrible inquisitors of 
state, the dreatled ' ten,' held their sittings. The splendid chambers in which the 
magnificent citizens were accustomed to meet, where their deliberations inspired 
Christendom with hope, and struck dismay into the souls of the Ottomans, are still 
shown to the stranger ; but the courage, the constancy, and the wisdom, which then 
filled them, are fled." 

The bridges are generally of but small span, as they merely serve to bestride 
the narrow canals of the city, and are profusely decorated with small statues. 
Venice is now under the dominion of Austria. It is one hundred and fifty miles 
east of Milan, and two hundred and forty-six north of Rome. 

Milan, the capital city of the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, is situated in a fertile 
plain on the left bank of the river Olona. It is a large and elegant city, but having 
been twice razed to the ground, first by Attila and then by Frederick Barbarossa, it 
contains no remains of its ancient greatness. It possesses, however, many hand- 
some palaces, the second cathedral in Italy, several fine theatres, good streets and 
promenades, and some valuable collections of paintings, statues, and boQks. The 
cathedral called the Duomo is a most superb structure, and its gorgeous external 
decorations are, perhaps, unrivalled in the world. From its want of a tower or dome, 
however, corresponding to the size of the church, it yields in majesty to many which 
might be enumerated ; but in the richness of its materials, and the profusion and 
beauty of its ornaments, it far outshines them all. It is a Gothic edifice, nearly as 
long as our largest cathedrals, and wider than any of them, built entirely of white 
marble ; its nave and double aisles are supported by fifty-two clustered columns, and 
fifty half columns; and on the exterior its roof is encircled by a triple row of pinna- 
cles or spires, each about sixty feet high, of the lightest and most elegant form, and 
crowned by statues as large as life. Its walls, buttresses, and spires, are crusted 
with a profusion of tracery and statues, of which latter there are said to be no less 
than three thousand four hundred ; and these being elegantly disposed, do not en- 
cumber the building, but give it an effect the most florid and beautiful. The pinna- 
cles are one hundred and twenty in number, and they are all modern, except two, 
which are ancient. Six or eight were added in the time of Napoleon, who nearly 

28 



434 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




Cathedral at Milan. 

•completed the edifice, after il had been more than four centuries in an unfinished 
state. The Duomo is in the form of a Latin cross, and it has an octagonal tower 
rising to a small elevation above the roof, and then suddenly contracting into a slen- 
der tower of the same form, which is itself terminated by a spire, and a statue of 
the Virgin. This is extremely elegant, but it is too light to have anything of 
majesty. 

The interior of the building is vast and rich, but unfortunately of very different 
styles of architecture, the Greek ^having been mixed with the Gothic; one conse- 
quence of which is, that the large Avindow usually placed at the western end of 
Gothic churches, is left out, thereby diminishing the light, and destroying the har- 
mony of the building. This mixture of styles is to be found in most of the cathe- 
drals of Italy, and is to be accounted for by the length of time required for their 
erection, and the various architects employed. The greatest curiosity in the Duomo 
is the subterranean chapel of St. Carlo Borromeo, the celebrated archbishop of Milan, 
who died in 1584, and who endeared himself to his fellow-citizens by his munificent 
charity to the poor, and by his fearless administration of the sacrament to the dying, 
when a plague raged in the city. 

One of the oldest churches in Milan, that of St. Ambroce, into which the visiter 
descends by several steps, is remarkable for a number of antiquities, but is dark, and 
without beauty. Of the numerous other churches, many are splendid. The former 
Dominican convent. Madonna delle Grazie, contains in its refectory the celebrated 
fresco of Leonardo da Vinci, the Last Supper, now much injured, but still beautiful. 
The former Jesuits' college of Brera, a magnificent building, remarkable, also, for 
its observatory, still contains several establishments for the arts and sciences ; among 
them a picture-gallery and a library. 

The military geographical institute of Milan, founded in 1801, has published an 
atlas of the Adriatic sea, and other charts. Among the charitable institutions, the 
great hospital is the most remarkable, on account of its architecture, magnitude, and 
the care taken of the patients. The Lazaretto, a large quadrangular building, for- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— ITALY. 



435 



raerly used during the prevalence of the plague, has now a diflFerent destination. 
The Teatro della Scala of Milan is one of the largest in Italy, and, perhaps, in 
Europe. It was built by Piermarini, in 1778, and is superior to all others in its ac- 
commodations. The operas and ballets are here exhibited in a style not surpassed 
for brilliancy and completeness in Italy. Besides this, there are the theatres Re, 
Canobiana, Carcano, &c. 

Milan contains a great number of palaces, and other handsome buildings, but the 
streets are not, in general, broad or straight. The Corso (the Porta Orientale), 
which, with public gardens, form a beautiful promenade, is particularly fine. The 
gardens are not so much frequented as the Corso, in which the fashionable world pa- 
rades on foot and on horseback, but principally in rich equipages, every evening. 
The principal articles of commerce are corn, rice, silk, and cheese. The number of 
manufactories is considerable. The arts and sciences are held in high esteem, and 
the Milanese school of engraving is favorably known. The environs of the city are 
fertile ; two large canals are connected with the Ticino and the Adda, and the Alps 
of Switzerland are visible. Milan has about 130,000 inhabitants, and is one hundred 
and forty leagues from Vienna, one hundred and ten from Rome, and one hundred 
and sixty from Paris. 




Coach of Milan, in the Si.xteenth Century. 



436 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



CHAPTER XVIII.— SICILY. 

Sicily. — The beautiful and fertile island of Sicily, in the Mediterranean, occupies 
a surface of 10,642 square miles, and has a population of 1,800,000 inhabitants. Its 
population is said to have been much greater in ancient times, but it is now con- 
siderably more than it was fifty years ago, having been 1,123,163 in the year 1770 ; 
and 1,-619,305 in the year 1798. 

Sicily was formerly the granary of ancient Rome, and it has still capabilities of 
feeding a population very far exceeding its own, if its agriculture were not depressed 
and shackled by bad husbandry and erroneous regulations. Artificial meadows are 
unknown ; so are potatoes, turneps, beets, and other green crops ; unless when 
planted with beans or peas, the ground is constantly cropped with corn, with inter- 
vals of one or two years' fallow or v/ild pasture. The soil, though badly cleaned 
and manured, yields upon an average eight for one, in some districts sixteen for one, 
and in some few, even thirty-two for one. The land is let in large tracts to com- 
panies of farmers, or rather shepherds, some of them proprietors of ten or twelve 
thousand sheep. The diff'ereat flocks feed together, and once a year an account is' 
taken of them, the result of which is afterward entered in a book, where each of the 
proprietors is debited and credited with his share of the proceeds and expenses, in 
proportion to his number of sheep, and credited with the proceeds of the milk con- 
vened into cheese, of the buttermilk, of the wool, and of the rent of a portion of the 
land let to under-tenants. 

There are in Sicily many well-cultivated vineyards ; and the wine of Milazzo, of 
Syracuse, of Avola, and Vittoria, go to Italy. That of Marsala is exported to all 
parts of the world, and is largely consumed in England. Hemp is also grown; 
but corn is the main produce of the island, and it is received in certain public maga- 
zines free of charge, which in some parts of the island are rather excavations into 
calcareous rocks, or holes in the ground, shaped like a bottle, walled up and made 
water-proof, containing each about 1,600 English bushels of corn. The receipt of 
the carricatore, or keeper of the magazine, being a transferable stock, is the object 
of some gambling on the public exchange of Palermo, Messina, and Catania, the 
speculations being grounded on the expected rise or fall of corn. So long has corn 
been preserved by these means, that it has been found perfectly good after the lapse 
of a century. The olive grovcTs to a larger size in Sicily than on the continent of 
Italy, and attains a greater age, there being evidence of trees having reached the age 
of seven or eight centuries. The peasants respect the olive, and can not bear that 
they should be destroyed, yet they take no care of them, and the oil they make is, in 
general, only fit for soap-boilers. The pistachio-nut is cultivated here, as well as a 
large sort of beans, which answer the purpose of potatoes, and form a consider- 
able part of the food of both men and animals. The Sicilian honey is in much 
estimation, and owing to the great consumption of wax in churches, the proceeds of 
bee-hives form a valuable item in husbandry. Some cotton is grown about Terranova 
and Catania; and these are the principal natural resources of the country. 

Palermo, the capital of the island of Sicily, is beautifully situated on a gulf five 
miles in depth, and at the extremity of a natural amphitheatre formed by lofty 
mountains. The approach by sea is magnificent. Monte Pellegrino, lofty and 
picturesque in the extreme, stands over a narrow but most fertile plain, and seems 
posted there as a giant to protect the fair city, which in part stretches along the 
curving shores of the bay, and in part retires inland on some very gentle declivities, 
that are backed everywhere by pleasant hills, groves, and gardens. The force of 
language and metaphor has almost been exhausted to find expression to describe the 
beautiful plain round Palermo ; the Conca cfOro, or the Golden Shell, expressive 
of its situation and richness ; the Ho7-tus Sicilice, or Garden of Sicily ; the Aurea 
Valle, or Golden Vale ; Perla d'Jtalia, or Pearl of Italy ; Felix, or the Happy, with 
many others, have been applied to it. The town itself is not altogether unworthy of 
the site. It is regularly built, has some fine streets, and, taken on the whole, an 
air of elegance and solidity. Two principal streets, each about a mile in length, 
aross each other at right angles, and divide the city into four pretty equal quarters. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SICILY. 



437 




mil 



III 



'I'lllilililllijjilli 
I 



IHilili!,"- ll'IIIIII'Mt' 



lill'lHillililllilM 



438 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

At both ends of these two streets there is an ornamental porta, or gate, and at the 
point of their intersection in the middle of the town there is a handsome octangular 
square, called Piazza Vigliena, or Quattro Canloneri, from the centre of which there 
is a fine view of the two great streets, with the gates that terminate them. The 
northern gate, called Porta Felice, toward the suburb of the Marina and the sea, is 
richly ornamented, and has a very graceful effect. Besides this central square there 
are several other piazzas, ornamented with obelisks and with fountains ; the largest 
of these squares are, II Piano della Marina, a space in front of the royal palace, and 
another near the senate-house, which is occupied by a fine large fountain. The 
number of these public ornaments and luxuries, and the abundant supply of water, 
are immense advantages, and fully appreciated during the intense heats of summer. 
Most of the houses in the good part of the town have fountains, and water is convey- 
ed even to the second and third stories. 

The two great streets are well paved, and have trottoirs, or side pavements, those 
excellent provisions for the pedestrian which are too commonly neglected in conti- 
nental towns. The houses are lofty, and nearly uniform in height ; and were the 
two streets somewhat broader, they may be classed among the finest in the south of 
Europe: but, as it is, the Cassero is broader, longer, and more regular, than the 
famed Corso at Rome. Sicilian architecture, however, will not stand a comparison 
with the Romans. The movement, the activity, the constant animation of these 
streets, v/ah the exception of an hour or two in the middle of the day in summer, 
when people retire to take their siesta, are exceedingly striking. Indeed, Palermo is 
the only city in Sicily that does not convey a melancholy idea of decay and depopula- 
tion. The lesser streets for the most part run parallel with the two main ones, and 
afford a ready access to thera at all points. Some of the lower parts of the town are 
filthy, and excessively disorderly. 

The city is surrounded by an old, weak, and broken wall ; some of the bastions 
are occupied by gardens, and others have been wholly cut away, to increase the 
breadth of the Marina, a beautiful drive and promenade on the seashore. The port, 
however, is rather well defended by the citadel, Fort la Galita, and other works. 
There is a strong mole-head battery at the end of the mole, or pier, which forms 
the convenient port, and is in itself a noble work, running from the arsenal, for the 
length of a quarter of a mile, into nine" or ten fathoms depth of water. 

In the interior of Palermo, one is continually reminded of the Saracens and the 
Normans, who successively held possession of Sicily, and whose styles of architec- 
ture, sometimes separate, and sometimes mixed, still survive them, and give a pecu- 
liarly characteristic air to the city, which is hardly to be found anywhere else. In 
the royal palace, a spacious building, now the residence of the viceroys of Sicily, 
the Saracenic, or Arabic, and the Norman architectures are blended together in a 
most singular manner, and predominate over the Avhole, though modern additions 
and alterations — the mixing of the new with the old — give the edifice a patchwork 
sort of appearance. Attached to it is the beautiful little church of St. Peter, which, 
with its cryptic, or underground chapel, and superb mosaics, is quoted as one of the 
most perfect specimens extant of Saracenic taste and magnificence. In the armory 
of the palace they show the siiver-hilted sword of the brave Norman chieftain. 
Count Ruggiero (Roger) who took Palermo from the Saracens in 1073, and became 
the independent sovereign of all Sicily. In the old cathedral, which was built 
during the twelfth century by Archbishop Walter, an Englishman, there are many, 
and some of them very fine f'eatures, of the oriental style. In one part, the roof is 
formed by a succession of small domes, precisely like those which are found on the 
mosques of Cairo and Constantinople. Some of the windows are small, with the 
low, heavy Norman arch, but others spring up lightly and beautifully, and terminate 
in the form of a sharp arrowhead. The exterior is rich in moulding and tracery ; 
and though, both within and without, this ancient cathedral has suffered much from 
injudicious modern alterations, it is still a picturesque and most interesting object. 
The nave is supported by eighty-four magnificent columns of Sicilian granite. 
There are some sarcophagi in the church, made of the finest red porphyry, which 
contain the bodies of princes of the Norman and other dynasties. 

Besides the old cathedral, the churches of San Cataldo, San Griovanni Eremite, 
Martorana, and some others, are of the Saracenic or Norman eras. The Saracenic 
style again shows itself in many of the palaces. That of Ziza, outside of the town, 
which was once the habitation of Mussulman princes, is in almost perfect preserva- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SICILY. 



439 




440 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

tion, as well as a small adjoining mosque. The building is of hewn stone, with 
light, airy arches, icicle-like pendants, muUions, and tracery. Within the palace 
there are fountains, courts, and arcades, that remind one of the splendid ruins of the 
Alhambra, in Granada. There is a view from a terrace, so exquisitely beautiful as 
almost to justify the inscription made upon it, which says, "Europe is the glory of 
the world — Italy of Europe — Sicily of Italy — and the country hereabout of Sicily." 

Some of ihe public buildings of Palermo are imposing from their breadth of front 
and extent. The great customhouse, in the Piazza Marina, was formerly the office 
of the inquisition. The Jesuits' college is a vast and magnificcHt edifice, commo- 
diously divided into many wings and compartments. 

The Monte di Pieta, or loan-bank for the poor, is another spacious building. It 
has a very neat portico. * 

The observatory of Palermo, though not very remarkable for its architecture, is 
curiously situated, and highly interesting, as being connected with the discoveries of 
a great modern astronomer. It is heaped on that huge pile of buildings which 
forms the royal palace. It was first erected in 1748, when the attention of astrono- 
mers was attracted to the conjunction of five planets in one sign of the zodiac ; a 
phenomenon which, it is supposed, had not occurred, or had not been observed 
since the creation of the world. The observatory was completed many years after, 
by the celebrated Padre Piazzi, who made from it his discovery of a new planet. 

The great boast of modern Palermo (and a beautiful thing it is !) is the promenade 
of the Marina, outside of the Porta Felice. Here a noble line of palaces, facing the 
bay, a fine carriage-road, and a broad pavement, called " bancbetta," for pedestrians, 
present themselves. At the eastern extremity of the Marina, which is a mile long, 
there is a botanical garden, with a graceful modern building, in which lectures are 
occasionally delivered, and adjoining to this there is another garden called the 
" Flora," open to the public at all times, and aflfording the most delightful walks 
through avenues of acacias, or orange, lemon, citron, and lime-trees. Part of the 
ground is laid out in parterres of flowers and sweet-smelling plants, which are wa- 
tered by several fountains. Statues, small temples, and sculptured cenoiaphs, all of 
pure white marble, are scattered here and there, with happy effec'. This gay and 
lovely garden is said to occupy the very spot on which the inquisitors were wont to 
celebrate their auto-da-fe. The present population of Palermo, with its suburbs, 
/.■^rather exceeds than falls short of 180,000 souls. 

A little to ihe west of Palermo, and nearly at the summit of the lofiy and rugged 
Monte Pellegrino, there is a natural grotto or cave of considerable, extent. Hamil- 
car Barcas, whose Carthaginian soldiers are said to have made a barrack-room of 
the cave, long resisted the Romans on this isolated and almost inaccessible height, 
but it is not from these circumstances that the grotto is dear and sacred to the Sicil- 
ians. The mouth of the cave no longer opens on the mountain's side, but is masked 
and enclosed by a curious church they have built round it. Crossing this church, you 
enter a low, narrow vault under the rocks, cold and gloomy in the extreme, where 
silence is never broken, except by the low whisperings of the devotees, or the echoes 
of the service in the church. Nearly at the extremity of the cavern, there is a beau- 
tiful young maiden, in a reclining posture, with her half-closed eyes fixed on the 
cross. It is only a statue ; but in the dim obscurity, partially broken by the lights 
from some small silver lamps, it looks, at a certain distance, like a human being in 
the act of expiring, with beatific visions of a brighter and happier world than this. 
Even on a nearer approach, when the illusion vanishes, the eflFect of this exquisite 
piece of workmanship is exceedingly touching. The delicate beauty and youth of 
the countenance, with its mingled expression of simplicity, resignation, and devo- 
tion — the flowing lines of the body and limbs, with their soft and perfect repose, 
quite captivate the beholder, and almost excuse the idolatry of which the statue is 
the object. The head and hands are cut in the finest Parian marble ; the rest of the 
figure is of bronze gilt, appearing as if covered with a robe of beaten gold. Many 
valuable jewels testify the devotion of successive ages. The figure represents Santa 
Rosalia, the patroness saint of Palermo, who is believed to have lived and died '*in 
these deep solitudes and awful cells." 

At certain seasons, the sailors and poor people from Palermo, and the peasantry 
from the neighboring country, flock hither in numerous troops, and, according to a 
practice which is general in Italy and Sicily, after they have performed their devo- 
tions they give themselves up to enjoyment, to feasting and dancing, for the rest of 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SICILY. 



441 




442 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



the day. The view from Monte Pellegrino is at once cheerful, diversified, and sub- 
lime, extensive, and beautiful in its details. The fair city of Palermo, with its sub- 
urbs, La Bagaria and // Colle, full of villas and gardens, is close under the eye ; 
the upper sides of Mount Etna, though at the distance of nearly the whole length 
of the island, are visible ; and looking seaward, most of the Lipari islands, with the 
ever-smoking cone of Stromboli, are discovered. 




The Volcano of Stromboli. 



The festival of Santa Rosalia is the most splendid religious pageant in Sicily, and, 
according to the Sicilians, whose pride and boast it is, the finest in the world. It is 
held annually at Palermo, in the glowing month of July, and lasts five days, the an- 
niversaries of the finding of the bones, their transfer from the cave to the cathedral, 
and the three processions round the walls of the city. People repair to it from all 
parts of the island, from the neighboring coasts of Calabria, and even from the city 
of Naples. A detailed account would occupy too much room ; but the principal fea- 
tures of the festival are these — a lofty car, of an exceedingly elegant form, and 
richly ornamented, is surmounted at more that the height of sixty feet, by a statue 
of the saint, in silver, and considerably larger than life. The car is about sixty-five 
feet long, and thirty feet broad. On seats which rise above each other like stairs, a 
numerous orchestra and vocal performers are disposed in rows, and in full court- 
dress. This enormous vehicle is dragged slowly through the centre of the town by 
fifty white oxen. It stops every fifty or sixty yards, and at each pause the music, 
which is generally admirable, fills the summer air, which is otherwise sweetened by 
incense, and the breath of innumerable flowers, that are suspended to the car, or 
scattered -before its path. 

In the evenings, the Cassaro, or principal street, and the long and beautiful prom- 
enade of the Marina, are splendidly illuminated, and fireworks, on a very extensive 
scale, are let ofi". On the fourth evening, the interior of the fine old cathedral is 
filled with one blaze of light; the silver lamps, the wax torches, the candelabra, the 
mirrors, the rich hanging draperies of gold and silver tissue, and all other accesso- 
ries, being arranged with admirable taste and effect. The festival concludes on the 
fifth day with a procession, in which the effigies of all the saints in Palermo are 
carried, amidst a deafening noise of drums, trumpets, and patereroes. 

The town of Monreale is nearly four miles from Palermo, but it is so connected 
with that capital by lines of houses and villas as to have almost the character of a 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SICILY. 



443 




444 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

suburb. It stands on a noble elevation at the southern extremity of the rich vale. of 
Palermo. The road leading to it runs in a straight line from the Cassaro, or princi- 
pal street of Palermo, to the very foot of the hills, over which it has been made to 
stride by a noble causeway. The situation, the views, are almost unrivalled ; and 
the town itself, though it can hardly be called handsome, has an impressive, pictu- 
resque, half-oriental air about it, and contains a number of very remarkable edifices 
The cloisters of Monreale are, from their magnificence, extent, and taste, consid- 
ered the masterpiece of the Saraceno-Norman architects ; and though the interval 
that divides them from the great masterpiece of the Moors in Spain is a long one, 
they are frequently called the " Alhambra of Sicily." The successors of that most 
energetic soldier of fortune. Count Ruggiero, spared no pains and no money in deco- 
rating this monument of their piety : the vast abbey-church, and nearly every part 
of the monastery, are most elaborately finished. The twisted columns which sup- 
port the arcades of the cloisters are covered nearly all over with mosaic ; and though 
not large in ihe diameter of their shafts, these columns are considerable in their 
number : for, taking in the whole range of the cloisters (of which but a section is 
shoAvn in our engraving), there are one hundred and twenty columns, and every one 
of these is exquisitely finished. Some of their capitals are very curious, being com- 
posed of the heads of animals, cut with great spirit. In each division of these clois- 
ters there is a richly-ornamented fountain, and as .all these are constantly supplied 
with clear, sparkling, cool water, the effect during the summer heats is delicious. 
From the shaded porticoes, and the cool open galleries above them, the eyes of the 
monks rest upon their gardens and groves, abounding in odoriferous shrubs and 
plants, all kept fresh and doubly fragrant by water gushing forth on all sides, and 
leaping in marble basins. The wealth and power are departed : the glory of the 
house is gone ; but, as a delicious place of residence, the abbey of Monreale re- 
mains unrivalled in the south, and was never surpassed even by the abbey of Batalha 
in Portugal. 

After the cloisters, the most striking feature in this monastery is, perhaps, the vast 
and truly noble staircase, at the head of which there stand two large and spendid 
paintings, one being by Velasquez, and the other by Pietro Novelli, a native of the 
town, and commonly called from it the " Monrcalese," or, for greater euphony, " Mo- 
realese." His works abound in other parts of the edifice, which also contains many 
beautiful pieces of sculpture by Gagini, another native artist. The adjoining cathe- 
dral church is in the same Saracenic style, but heavier and somewhat less symmetric 
than the Benedictine house. The interior of the cathedral is a complete crust of 
rich mosaic work. 

In its scenery and accessories the whole neighborhood' of Monreale is magic 
ground. About three miles beyond the abbey is the magnificent monastery of San 
Martino, situated in a wild and solitary dell, among rocks and mountains. 

Syracuse. — The city of Syracuse, the metropolis of the island of Sicily, was found- 
ed upward of seven hundred years before the Christian era, by Archias, of Corinth, 
one of the Heraclidse : by the ancients it was called Pentapolis, from its containing 
within its walls the five cities of Ortygia, Acradina, Tycha, Neapolis, and Epipolse. 
In its most flourishing state it comprised above twelve hundred thousand inhabit- 
ants, extended upward of twenty-two miles, maintained an army of one hundred 
thousand fool and ten thousand horse, together with a navy of five hundred armed 
vessels, that proudly rode in its two capacious harbors, which were separated 
from each other by the island of Ortygia. This city vi^as surrounded by a rich and 
fertile country, and possessed every advantage of local situation : it was further em- 
bellished by works of the most exquisite taste and perfection in architecture, sculp, 
ture, and painting ; while commerce and extent of territory diffused such wealth 
among its citizens as rendered their affluence proverbial. After a long period of 
prosperity and glory, and after a struggle almost unexampled in the annals of histo- 
ry, Syracuse was finally reduced (B. C. 212) by the Roman arms under the command 
of the consul Marcellus ; who, on entering the city, and reflecting upon its magnifi- 
cence and fallen state, is said to have burst into tears. 

On approaching the walls of Syracuse, the traveller, who calls to mind the rank 
which this once-splendid city occupied in the page of history, and who has raised his 
expectations with the prospect of surveying the remains of those structures so warmly 
depicted by various classic authors, may, like Marcellus, shed a tear of disappoint- 
ment over its fallen state. Although these antiquities are few in number, they are 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SICILY. 



445 




446 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

scattered over so great an extent of ground, as to require at least three days in visit- 
ing them. 

Syracuse stands on the ancient island of Ortygia. The following are a few of the 
remains of art which are still pointed out to travellers : — 

1. A temple originally consecrated to Minerva : it stands in the modern city, and 
was transformed into a Christian church in the seventh century, when it sustained 
considerable injury. In the twelfth century it received still further damage from an 
earthquake, which shook down its roof. This edifice is now the cathedral church 
of Syracuse. 

2. Near the great port, and separated from the waters of the sea hy a thick wall, 
is the celebrated fountain of Arethusa, the stream of which is still copious : but the 
nymphs of the spring, which the ancient poets and mythologists imagined to exist, 
are metamorphosed into washerwomen. 

3. The theatre, excavated in the solid rock on the declivity of a hill : the solid 
structure of this edifice has saved it from ruin. Our engraving presents a partial 
view of some considerable remains of it. It was hewn in a rock, and constructed 
with three ranges of seats, separated with platforms or galleries, which continue 
without interruption all around, approached by staircases constructed at given inter- 
vals. This theatre was built at the boundaries of Neapolis, Tyche, and Acradina, 
overlooking the former city, and commanding a view of the promontory of Plem- 
rayrium. 

4. An amphitheatre, of small dimensions, but well built with blocks of massive 
stone : many of the steps yet remain. 

5. Between the theatre and amphitheatre are the extensive Loatimias, or quarries, 
in one of which is the well-known cavity termed the Ear of Dionysius : it is exca- 
vated in the shape of the letter S, and rises to a considerable height, which naturally 
accounts for the strength of the echo which it produces. 

6. The catacombs are not far from the amphitheatre: they are noAV called the 
Grotte di San Giovanni. Near the entrance is an old Christian church, which is 
said to have been erected in the earliest ages of Christianity, and to contain the ashes 
of St. MarciaLi. Its form shows it to be of great antiquity ; and it contains several 
fragments of old columns, one of which is reputed to have been the spot where the 
martyr was put to death. These catacombs owe their preservation to their subterra- 
neous situation : in regularity, form, extent, and plan. Sir Richard Colt Hoare con- 
siders them as far exceeding those of Naples and of Rome. 

Various other splendid remains attest the ancient magnificence of Syracuse, among 
which the walls are particularly worthy of notice. The exterior part was perpen- 
dicular, and the interior shaped into steps. 

Modern Syracuse is computed to be about two miles in circumference : it exhibits 
narrow streets, and a dejected, sickly population, which is estimated at fifteen thou- 
sand. The climate is said to be rendered very unwholesome by the extreme heat of 
the sun, and by the malaria of the contiguous marshes. 

Messina has sufi'ered severely from earthquakes, and was completely demolished 
in 1783, since which it has had the advantage of new and regular buildings. Its 
population is now about seventy thousand. Its fine quay extends more than a mile 
along the port, and a rocky and sandy headland, projecting circularly, forms a deep, 
spacious, and tranquil harbor, accessible nearly at all times, notwithstanding the 
proximity of Scylla and Charybdis. Education is said to be much neglected at Mes- 
sina ; and the nobility do not in general reside there. It is, in short, neither fashion- 
able, nor learned, nor rich. 

Catania, in the immediate neighborhood of Mount Etna, has very frequently been 
overwhelmed by eruptions. At every such convulsion it has been more or less in- 
jured ; and it has thrice been completely overturned or burnt down, and its inhabit- 
ants wholly or in part swallowed up, viz. : once in the twelfth century, and twice in 
the seventeenth. 

Among the mountains of Sicily, the most celebrated, and indeed the most remark- 
able of the mountains of Europe, is Etna, a very active volcano, which has often 
spread terror and devastation over the surrounding country. The celebrity of this 
mountain will justify a particular account of it. Etna, now called by the Sicilians 
Monte-Gibello, is situated on the eastern side of the island, in a valley called Val di i 
Demona, at the foot of the Neptunian or central chain of Sicily. Its immense size 
and solitary elevation, the beauty and magnificence of the surrounding scenery, and 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SICILY. 



447 



the terrific grandeur of the convulsions and changes to which it has been subject, 
have excited the descriptive powers of the poet, and afforded matter of interesting 
research to the philosopher. Pindar has called it " the Pillar of Heaven." Here, 
according to ancient mythology, were erected the forges and workshops of the Cy- 
clops, in which, under "the direction of Vulcan, they prepared the thunderbolts of 
Jupiter; here was raised a temple to Vulcan himself, where, as in that of Vesta, the 
fire never ceased to burn ; and here the gi;mt Enceladus was condemned to expiate 
his impious rebellion against the king of gods in perpetual imprisonment. The ap- 
pearance of this mountain, when viewed at a distance, is that of an obtuse truncated 
cone, extended at the base, and terminating in a bifurcated vertex or top, that is, in 
two eminences at a considerable distance from each other. Upon a nearer approach, 




Volcano of Mount Etna. 



the traveller is surprised and astonished at the wild and grotesque appearance of the 
whole mass. Scattered over the immense declivity of Etna, but especially in its 
lower regions, he beholds innumerable small conical hills, gently rising from its sur- 
face to the height of four hundred or five hundred feet, and covered with rich verdure 
and beautiful trees, villages, scattered hamlets, and monasteries. As his eye ascends, 
he discovers an immense forest of oaks and pines surrounding the mountain on every 
side, and forming a beautiful zone of green round its middle ; above this appears the 
hoary head of the mountain itself, boldly projecting into the clouds, and covered with 
eternal snow. 

The ascent to the summit of this remarkable mountain from Catania occupies three 
whole days. Fifteen miles are allowed for the breadth of II Regione Culta, or the 
cultivated region, which is remarkable for the inequality of its surface, occasioned by 
an immense number of conical hills, rising on every side and in every direction. 
There are two resting-places in this first region, viz., Nicolosi, twelve miles up the 
mountain, and two tl^ousand four hundred and ninety-six feet above the level of the 
sea, according to Mr. Howel, and St. Niccolo deli' Arena, three miles beyond which 
begins the woody region. The second part of this ascent, called "the woody re- 
gion," extends from eight to ten miles toward the summit of the mountain. The 
most remackable object to be met with here is the celebrated chestnut-tree, the cas- 
tagno dei cento casalli, as it has been called, which, according to some travellers, 
measures two hundred and four feet in circumference at the root. It is divided at or 
near the surface into five branches, but they are all united into one root. The Snow 
grotto and the grotto of Goats, at the latter of which the weary traveller sleeps for 
the night upon a bed of leaves, supplied by the stately oaks which surround it, are 
also objects of curiosity. Soon after he leaves this grotto the scene gradually changes. 
As he ascends, at every step the trees diminish in size and beauty ; the vegetation 
diminishes to a few clumps of trees and some tufts of odoriferous herbs — even these 



448 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

in a little distance become thinner and assume a withered and stunted appearance ; 
soon after he beholds the last relics of expiring vegetation, and passes into the " re- 
gion of snow and sterility." This last region, or upper zone of Etna, reckoning from 
the last appearance of vegetation to the verge of the great crater, is overspread with 
a flat expanse of snow and ice, intersected by torrents of melted snow. In the midst 
of this desert the lofty summit of the mountain is descried, rearing its tremendous 
head above the surrounding snows, and vomiting out torrents of smoke. The most 
difficult and dangerous part of the whole ascent now begins. Violent gusts of wind 
chill the traveller, and as he proceeds the snow gradually increases in depth and 
hardness till it appears one continued sheet of ice. Sometimes, from the partial 
beating of the surface, pools of water are formed by the melted snow, which arrest 
his progress ; the sand and ashes, at first thinly spread over the surface of the hard- 
ened snov/, gradually deepen as he advances, and are at the same time so loose that 
he is in danger of being swallowed up at every step ; sulphureous exhalations, con- 
stantly arising from the crevices of the mountain, irritate his lungs, and sometimes 
even threaten suffocation ; clouds of smoke, issuing from the crater, roll down its 
side, and involve him in a pitchy atmosphere ; and, to add to the horror of the scene, 
terrific sounds are continually issuing from the very centre of the mountain, resem- 
bling discharges of artillery in the vast abyss, and producing reverberations the most 
awful and alarming. This part of the journey is generally performed in the night, 
in order to arrive at the summit at an early hour. An hour before sunrise the trav- 
eller arrives at a ruined structure, called the Philosopher's tower, but when and by 
whom erected is unknown. Here, sheltered from the fury of the blast, he may sit 
down to recruit his exhausted strength and examine the objects around him. The 
forests below still appear like a dark gulf encompassing the mountain ; the unclouded 
sky is faintly irradiated, and the immense vault of heaven appears stretched above 
him in awful and spleridid majesty ; the stars seem increased in number and in mag- 
nitude, and their light appears unusually bright, while the Milky Way shoots across 
the heavens like a pure flame. Warned by the first rays of dawn, the traveller 
leaves the Philosopher's tower, and soon arrives at the foot of the great crater — a 
hill of an exact conical figure, solely composed of ashes and scoriee. The perpen- 
dicular height of this cone, according to Captain Smyth, is one thousand and seventy- 
six feet. If the people of Catania are to be believed, before 1730 Etna terminated in 
an extensive plain, in the centre of which appeared an immense opening, constituting 
the mouih of the great gulf. 

On gaining the summit, all that is wonderful, sublime, and beautiful in nature, 
bursts at once upon the astonished eye- " But here," says Brydone, " description 
must ever fall short ; for no imagination has dared to form an idea of so glorious and 
so magnificent a scene. Neither is there on the surface of this globe any one point 
that unites so many awful and sublime objects. The immense elevation from the 
surface of the earth, drawn as it were to a single point, without any neighboring 
mountain for ihe senses and imagination to rest upon and recover from their aston- 
ishment in their way down to the world ; this point or pinnacle, raised on the brink 
of a bottomless gulf as old as the world, often discharging rivers of fire, and throw- 
ing out burning rocks, with a noise that shakes the whole island. Add to this the 
unbounded extent of the prospect, comprehending the greatest diversity and the most 
beautiful scenery in nature, with the rising sun advancing in the east to illuminate 
the wondrous scene. The whole atmosphere by degrees kindled up, and showed 
dimly and faintly the boundless prospect around. Both sea and land looked dark 
and confused, as if only emerging from their original chaos, and light and darkness 
seemed still undivided, till morning, by degrees advancing, completed the separation. 
The stars are extinguished and the shades disappear. The forests, which but now 
seemed black and bottomless gulfs, whence no ray was reflected to show their forms 
or colors, appear a new creation rising lo sight, catching life and beauty from every 
increasing beam. The scene still enlarges, and the horizon seems to widen and ex- 
pand itself on all sides, till the sun, like the great Creator, appears in the east, and 
with his plastic ray completes the mighty scene. All appears enchantment, and it is 
with difficulty we can believe we are still on earth. The senses, unaccustomed to 
the sublimity of such a scene, are bewildered and confounded ; and it is not till after 
some time that they are capable of separating and judging of the objects that com- 
pose it. The body of the sun is seen rising from the ocean, immense tracts both of 
sea and land intervening. The islands of Lipari, Alicudi, Stromboli, and Volcano, 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SICILY. 449 

with their smoking summits, appear under your feet ; and you look down on the whole 
of Sicily as on a map, and can trace every river through all its windings from its 
source to its mouth. The view is absolutely boundless on every side, nor is there any 
one object within the circle of vision to interrupt it, so that the sight is everywhere 
lost in the immensity. But the most beautiful part of the scene is the mountain it- 
self, the island of Sicily, and the numerous islands lying round it. All these, by a 
kind of magic in vision, that I am at a loss to account for, seem as if they were 
brought close round the skirts of Etna, the distances appearing reduced to nothing. 
Perhaps this singular effect is produced by the rays of light passing from a rarer me- 
dium into a denser, which (from a well-known law in optics) to an observer in the 
rare medium appears to lift up objects that are at the bottom of the dense one, as a 
piece of money placed in a basin appears lifted up as soon as the basin is filled with 
water. 

" The Regione Deserta, or the frigid zone of Etna, is the first object that calls 
your attention. It is marked out by a circle of snow and ice, which extends on all 
sides to the distance of about eight miles. In the centre of this circle the great cra- 
ter of the mountain rears its burning head, and the regions of intense cold and of intense 
heat seem for ever to be united in the same point. The Regione Deserta is immedi- 
ately succeeded by the Sylvosa, or the woody region, which forms a circle or girdle 
of the most beautiful green, which surrounds the mountain on all sides, and is cer- 
tainly one of the most delightful spots on earth. This presents a remarkable contrast 
with the desert region. It is not smooth and even, like the greatest part of the lat- 
ter ; but is finely variegated by an infinite number of those beautiful little mountains 
that have been formed by the different eruptions of Etna. We looked down into the 
craters of these, and attempted, but in vain, to number them. This zone is every- 
where succeeded by the vineyards, orchards, and cornfields, that compose the Regione 
Culta, or the fertile region. This zone makes a delightful contrast with the other 
two regions. It is bounded by the sea to the south and southeast, and on all its other 
sides by the rivers Semetus and Alcantara, which run almost round it. The whole 
course of these rivers is seen at once, and all their beautiful windings through these 
fertile valleys, looked upon as the favorite possession of Ceres herself", and the very 
scene of the rapfi of her daughter Proserpine. Cast your eyes a little further, and 
you embrace the whole island : all its cities, rivers, and mountains, delineated in the 
great chart of nature ; all the adjacent islands, the whole coast of Italy, as far as 
your eye can reach, for it is nowhere bounded, but everj'-where lost in the space. On 
the sun's first rising, the shadow of the mountain extends across the whole island, 
and makes a large track, visible even in the sea and in the air. By degrees this is 
shortened, and in a little time is confined only to the neighborhood of Etna." 

Rock-salt is found in various places in Sicily ; and salt is also manufactured by 
the common process of evaporation. There are saltworks on the eastern and west- 
ern sides of the island ; and salt is also imported from ports on the southern side, 
brought down along with other commodities from the interior. On the eastern side, 
a few miles north of Syracuse, are the large and profitable saltworks of Sajona. 
They lie at the end of an isthmus, or neck of land, thus described by Captain Smyth : 
" The south side of the harbor of Augusta is formed by the promontory of Magnisi, 
which, though joined to the main by an isthmus, is generally called an island. It is 
of moderate height, and was the ancient peninsula of Thapsus, where the ill-fated 
Athenians landed previously to attacking the Epipolse. It appears well-calculated 
for a grand lazaretto (should their commerce ever require it) for the ports of Syracuse 
and Augusta, being equidistant from both ; and though malaria exists in the adjacent 
plain, the island is not affected by it. The saltworks are at the end of the isthmus, 
and not far from them is a column erected by Marcellus in commemoration of his 
success over the Syracusans." 

South from Syracuse, at Marzamemi, which is near the southeastern extremity 
of the island, there is a salt lake. Marzamemi is described as " a small filthy vil- 
lage, which, during the fishing season, is strewed with the blood and intestines of 
the tunny." The salt lake renders the site valuable, as the necessary salt is there 
made. Round by the south side of the island is Pozzallo, the principal port of the 
district or county of Modica. Modica is the most active district in Sicily ; the 
country produces corn, tobacco, oil, wine, soda, hemp, wool, canary-seed, cheese, 
butter, bitumen, and salt ; " and although there are no woods, there is so great a 
quantity of game as to form an article of export. The trade is principally with 

29 



450 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



Malta, which is supplied hence with these necessaries in exchange for cloth, spirits 
hardware, and colonial produce." The river Salso, anciently called the southern 
Himera, which falls into the sea near Alicata,on the south coast, is rendered brack- 
ish by the junction of a stream which runs from salt mines near Caltanisetta. There 
are also various salt-springs in Sicily, a group of which are represented in our en- 
graving. Houel terms them les salinelles. 




Salt-Springs of Sicily. 



The two chief places on the western end of Sicily are Marsala, well-known for its 
'wine ; and Trapani, equally well-known for its manufacture of salt. A large portion 
of the country adjoining Trapani " is laid out in extensive salt-works, by the con- 
struction of innumerable causeways, about a foot and a half high, enclosing square 
places, which communicate by dams with each other. Into these the sea-water is 
conducted by regular gradations, and exposed in a state of stagnation to the influence 
of the sun ; as the evaporation advances, the bittern is successively scooped into the 
farther divisions, in the most distant of which the crystallization takes place, and a 
new supply of the nearest water is from time to time admitted, until the crust has 
increased to a certain thickness. The salt is then heaped up in pyramids ready for 
exportation, without any precaution to preserve them against rain, except their form, 
and the hardness they acquire by time." The heaps of salt at a distance resemble 
ihe tents of an encampment. 

Twelve leagues west of Palermo, at some distance from the sea, in a barren and 
truly desolate country, the traveller will observe, at the base of a narrow gorge, 
numerous blocks of stone, where he can still discern traces of human art, but which 
give no intimation as to what might have been their former destination. One ruin, 
however, is sufficiently perfect to authorize the opinion, that it belonged to the theatre. 
These ruins which are now vaguely termed Barlara, are all that remain of one of 
the most powerful cities of Sicily. Founded by the companions of ^neas, and 
perpetuating the memory of its Trojan origin by the names of Scamander and 
Simois, given to the two rivers which bathe it with their waters, Segesta, sometimes 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SICILY. 



451 




452 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

termed -Slgesta, in the early periods of the Roman era, rivalled even Syracuse in 
grandeur. About three hundred years before the Christian era, Agathocles, tyrant 
of Syracuse, to punish Segesta for taking part with the Carthaginians against him, 
destroyed it: the walls were overthrown, the inhabitants were massacred, and to 
perpetuate the memory of this horrid event, the term, " City of Vengeance," was 
applied to the ruins. The Segestians, however, had so many ■ resources, that they 
soon effaced all traces of this calamity ; a new city sprung up, and resumed its rank 
among the capitals of Italy. 

After many centuries of prosperity, the Segestians were committed to the fire and 
sword by the Saracens, and this time, the injury was irreparable, for Italy was now 
exhausted. But by a singular contrast, near these ruins, rises the most imposing, the 
most ancient, and the best preserved monument of Sicily. 

On approaching the ruins of Segesta from the sea, the eye is fatigued by the barren 
rocks, and the absence of all picturesque beauty in the landscape. We look in vain 
for any traces of a habitation, when suddenly on the summit of a far-distant hill, a 
majestic colonnade is observed. This building stands above Segesta, on a promon- 
tory ; its form is that of a regular parallelogram, one hundred and seventj^-five feet 
long by seventy-three feet broad ; it is composed of thirty-six columns, twelve of 
which are placed on each of the two longest faces, and six on each of the extremities. 
These columns are of the Doric order and gradually diminish toward the top ; they 
are twenty-eight feet high, and six feet in diameter ; they support an entablature 
about eight feet high ; which is ornamented by a very prominent cornice. At the 
two extremities, the monument presents a front, the angles of which are very obtuse, 
and there is no reason to think that the space existing between the columns was 
ever closed, or that there was ever any interior within the colonnade : places for 
the cornices of the roof, however, still exist, but of this, as well as of the pavement, 
there are now no traces. The material, used in the construction of this building, is 
common limestone, which is encrusted with shells : but its tint is a bright yellow, 
and it is interspersed with veins, so that when seen from a distance, the columns ap- 
pear to be formed of marble. Its state of preservation is extraordinary ; the sharp 
edges of the stones are yet firm. 

At the end of the last century, the lovers of antiquity were fearful lest the symptoms 
of decay then presented by this builditig, should rob them of this magnificent monu- 
ment of architecture ; but happily, remedies were applied in time, and this noble 
specimen of art was preserved without being disfigured by modern repairs. 

More perfect than most of the other monuments of Sicily, the beautiful ruin of 
Segesta seems to be of a more recent date ; but it is more ancient than any others. 
When we compare it with other ruins, we find that the architecture of it is difi'erent 
from all of them; it belongs neither to the Greek nor Roman school; and hence, 
we must look for its origin to the earliest periods, and believe that this noble edifice 
was built by the descendants of the companions ofiEneas, and that it is therefore 
•three thousand years old. Irwas doubtless a religious edifice, but whether conse- 
crated to Venus, Ceres, or Diana, it is impossible to say ; and the monument is there- 
fore simply termed the " Temple of Segesta." 

Agrigentum was much renowned among the ancients. Different stories are told 
of its foundation ; among which is the fabulous tale that Daedalus, who fled to Sicily 
from the resentment of Minos, erected it. Its situation was peculiarly strong and 
imposing, standing as it did on a bare and precipitous rock, eleven hundred feet above 
the level of the sea. To this military advantage, the city added those of a commercial 
nature, being near to the sea, which afforded the means of an easy intercourse with 
the ports of Africa and the south of Europe. The soil of Agrigentum was very fer- 
tile. By means of these advantages, the wealth of Agrigentum became very great. 
It was therefore considered the second city in Sicily, and Polybius says that it sur- 
passed in grandeur of appearance, on account of its many temples and splendid pub- 
lic buildings, most of its contemporaries. Among the most magnificent of these 
buildings were the temples of Minerva, of Jupiter Atabyris, of Hercules, and of Ju- 
piter Olympus ; the latter, which vied in size and grandeur of design with the finest 
buildings of Greece, is said by DiodorHs to have been three hundred and forty feet 
long, sixty broad, and one hundred and twenty high, the foundation not being in- 
cluded, which was itself remarkable for the immense arches upon which it stood. 
The temple was ornamented with admirable sculpture. But a Avar prevented the 
•completion of it, when the roof only remained unfinished. Near the city was an ar- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SICILY. 




454 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

tificial lake, cut out of the solid rock, about a mile in circuit, and thirty feet deep, 
from which fish were obtained in abundance for the public feasts. Swans and other 
water-fowl frequented it. Afterward, the mud having been suflFered to accumulate 
in this basin, it was turned into a remarkably fruitful vineyard. Both the temple of 
Jupiter Olympus and the lake Avere the work of a number of Carthaginian captives^ 
The people of Agrigentum were noted for their luxurious and extravagant habits. 
Their horses were also famous. After the expulsion of the Carthaginians from 
Sicily, it fell, with little resistance, under the power of the Romans. Diodorus 
states the population, in its best days, to have been not less than one hundred and 
twenty thousand. Our engraving on the preceding page represents the temple of 
Concord, one of the most perfect ruins now existing on the site of the ancient Agri- 
gentum. 

Selinunte. — On the southern coast of Sicily, about ten miles to the east of Cape 
Granitola, and between the little rivers Maduini and Bilici (the Crimisus and Hypsa 
of ancient times), a stupendous mass of ruins presents itself in the midst of a solitary 
and desolate country. These are the sad remains of the once splendid city of Selinus, 
or Selinuntum, which was founded by a Greek colony from Megara, more than 
twenty-four hundred years ago. When seen at a distance from the sea, they still 
look like a mighty city ; but on a near approach nothing is seen but a confused heap 
of fallen edifices — a mixture of broken shafts, capitals, entablatures, motopse, with a 
few truncated columns erect among them. On landing at a sandy flat, which has 
gradually encroached upon and filled up the ancient haven or port, the traveller pres- 
ently reaches a spot called by the Sicilians " La Mariuella," where are the stupen- 
dous ruins represented in our engraving. They seem to consist chiefly of the re- 
mains of three temples of the Doric order. One of these temples was naturally de- 
voted by a maritime and trading people to Neptune; a second was dedicated for 
similar reasons to Castor and Pollux, the friends of navigation and the scourge of 
pirates ; the destination of the third temple is uncertain. A curious popular corrup- 
tion of a classical name has given a very familiar, if not laughable, designation to 
the place. The god Pollux is called in Italian PoZ/wce ; and by an application of 
his name, derived from the temple, the district was called " Terra di Polluce,'''' the 
Land of Pollux. Out of this the Sicilians have made " Terra di Pnici j" literally, 
"The Land of Fleas" — a designation the place always goes by, and which (not to 
speak profanely) the neighborhood, in common with nearly all Sicily, is well enti- 
tled to. The size of the columns and the masses of stone that lie heaped about them 
is prodigious : the lower circumference of the columns is thirty-one and a half feet ; 
many of the stone blocks measure twenty-five feet in length, eight in height, and six 
in thickness. Twelve of the columns have fallen with singular regularity, the dis- 
jointed shaft-pieces of each lying in a straight line with the base from which they 
fell, and having their several capitals at the other end of the line. If architects and 
antiquaries have not been mistaken in their difficult task of measuring among heaps 
of ruins that in good part cover and conceal the exterior lines, the largest of the three 
temples was three hundred and thirty-four feet long and one hundred and fifty-four 
feet wide. These are prodigious and unusual dimensions for ancient edifices of the 
kind ; that wonder of the old world, the temple of Diana at Ephesus, did not very 
much exceed these admeasurements. The great Selinuntian temple seems to have 
had porticoes of four columns in depth and eight in width, with a double row of six- 
teen columns on the lateral sides of the cella. It is somewhat singular, from having 
had all the columns of the first row on the east front fluted, while all the rest of the 
columns were quite plain. One of these fluted columns is erect and tolerably entire, 
with the exception of its capital ; the fluting, moreover, is not in the Doric style, for 
each flute is separated by a fillet. The material of which this and the other edifices 
were formed is a species of fine-grained petrifaction, hard, and very sonorous on 
being struck with the hammer. It was hewn out of quarries near at hand, at a 
place called Campo Bello, where many masses, only partially separated tfrom the 
rock, and looking as if the excavation had been suddenly interrupted, are stllj seen. 

A flight of ancient steps in tolerable preservation leads from the Marinella to the 
Acropolis, where the covert-ways, gates, and walls, built of large squared stones, may 
still be traced all round the hill. A little to the west of the Acropolis is the small 
pestiferous lake Yhalici, partly choked up with sand. In ancient times this was 
called Stagnum Gonusa, and it is said the great philosopher Empedocles purified it 
and made the air around it wholesome, by clearing a mouth toward the sea and con- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SICILY. 



455 




456 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

veyiag a good stream of water through it. The fountain of Diana, at a short dis* 
tance, which supplies this stream, still pours forth a copious volume of excellent 
water ; but it is allowed to run and stagnate over the plain, and now adds to the 
malaria created by the t>cagnant lake. The surrounding country is wholly unculti- 
vated, and, where not a morass, is covered with underwood, dwarf-palms, and myr- 
tle-bushes of a prodigious growth. For six months in the year Selinunte is a most 
unhealthy place ; and though the stranger may visit it by daytime without much dan- 
ger of catching the infection, it seems scarcely possible to sleep there in summer and 
escape the malaria fever in one of its worst forms. Of four English artists who 
tried the experiment in 1822, not one escaped ; and Mr. Harris, a young architect of 
great promise, died in Sicily from the consequences. These gentlemen made a dis- 
covery of some importance : they dug up near one of the temples some sculptured 
metopge with figures in relievo, of a singular, primitive style, which seems to have 
more affinity with the Egyptian or the Etruscan than with the Greek style of a later 
age. There are probably few Greek fragments of so ancient a date in so perfect a 
state of preservation. The government claimed these treasures, and caused thera to 
be transported to Palermo ; but Mr. Samuel Angel, an architect, and one of the 
party, took casts from them, which may now be seen in the " Elgin Marble Gallery" 
of the British Museum. 

Selinuntum was taken during the Carthaginian wars in Sicily, and partly de- 
stroyed by the great Hannibal ; but the city was restored, and was an important place 
long after that time. From the manner in which the columns and other fragments 
of the three stupendous temples lie, it is quite evident that they musf have been 
thrown down by an earthquake ; but the date of that calamity is not known. 

The neighboring country is interesting as having been the scene of many of the 
memorable events recorded by the ancient historians. A few miles to the west of the 
ruins, on the banks of a little river, that now, unless when swelled by the winter tor- 
rents, creeps gently into the sea, was fought, amid thunder, lightning, and rain, one 
of the most celebrated battles of ancient times, in which the "immortal Timoleon," 
the liberator of Corinth, and the savior of Syracuse, gained a glorious victory over 
the Carthaginian invaders. The events are preserved in popular traditions: and the 
names of Mago, Hamilcar, Hannibal, Agathocles, Dionysius, and Timoleon, are com- 
mon in the moullis of the country people, though not unfrequently confused with one 
another, and subjected to the same laughable mutilation as the name of Pollux at 
Selinunte. 




, ..-X.lif .TIlW. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— MALTA. 457 



CHAPTER XIX.— MALTA. 

Malta is an island in the Mediterranean sea. It was originally considered as 
belonging to Africa, but by an act passed by the parliament of Great Britain Malta 
was declared part of Europe. The lengtli of this island does not exceed twenty 
miles, and its greatest breadth is twelve. The coast is rugged and steep, and the 
only harbors are those called by the natives Marza and Marza Murcet, which are 
separated by the peninsula on which the principal town, Valetta, is built. 

Gibraltar has not inaptly been termed the key of the Mediterranean, and follow- 
ing up the simile, Malta may be compared to the spring of the lock, possessing ad- 
vantages from its strength and situation which can not be too highly appreciated. 
There is, however, this difference in the two places, that, while the former has had 
Nature for the chief engineer, the latter is indebted almost entirely to art for its al- 
most equal impregnability. A detailed account of its extensive lines of fortification 
would exceed our present intention, which is to confine ourselves to those points 
more immediately connected with the Grand port of Valetta. 

The approach to Valetta, situated near the eastern point of the island, is highly 
picturesque and interesting ; the fortifications, close to which vessels must pass, seem 
sufficient to annihilate the most powerful naval force that could be sent against it. 
There are two harbors, separated from each other by a narrow neck of land ; but the 
northern and smaller of the two is solely appropriated to the purposes of quarantine 
— a penance which is strictly enforced, as the inhabitants have already had an awful 
lesson in the dreadful plague with which they were visited in 1813. 

The southern, or Grand port, is large, safe, and commodious, running up in a south- 
west direction a mile and three quarters, the breadth at the entrance being less than 
five hundred yards. It possesses great advantages as a harbor, being free from dan- 
ger, and the shore everywhere so bold, that a line-of-battle ship may lie close to it 
and take in a supply of water from pipes laid down in several places, or her provis- 
ions, without the aid of boats. The northern shore is but slightly varied from the 
straight line, but to the southward the coast is deeply indented by three inlets : the 
first, immediately on passing the point of entrance, called Bighi bay, where the 
French had commenced a palace for Napoleon, which, after remaining thirty years 
in an unfinished state, has at last been converted into a naval hospital ; secondly, a 
narrow creek, called Porto della Galera, or Galley port, where the galleys of the 
knights were laid up ; and lastly, Porto della Sanglea. The last two are perfectly 
land-locked. 

On the Valetta side the shore is one continued line of wharves, on which stand the 
pratique-office, the customhouse, the fishmarket, with ranges of storehouses, both 
public and private ; and along these wharves merchant-vessels generally lie to dis- 
charge and load their cargoes. The Galley port is principally appropriated to the 
establishments connected with the naval arsenal, whose storehouses and residences 
of the officers occupy the greater part of its shores. The dockyard is at the head 
of the creek, the victualling-office and cooperage along its eastern shore ; and al- 
though its greatest breadth does not exceed two hundred and fifty yards, the depth 
of water is sufficient to admit of two-decked ships lying at the dockyard to undergo 
their necessary repairs : the western side is resorted to by merchant-vessels when 
making a long stay. The shores of Port Sanglea are chiefly occupied by private 
yards for building and repairing merchant-vessels, beyond which, up to the head of 
the harbor, the country is open. 

The entrance to the harbor is defended by the forts Ricasoli on the east and St. 
Elmo on the west, whose walls rise almost immediately from the seashore, and by 
Fort St. Angelo, a quadruple battery, the lowest tier of which is nearly level with 
the water. This fort stands at the extremity of the tongue which separates the 
Galley port from Bighi bay, and completely flanks the entrance. The next point, 
separating the Galley port from Port Sanglea, is also protected by a battery, besides 
which a line of fortification surrounds the town on both sides the harbor, with bas- 



458 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

tioiis where most conducive to the general defence, and toward the land the utmost 
ingenuity of art has been lavished to render the town impregnable. 

The Maltese are an industrious and active, though by no means a fine race of men ; 
the poverty of their living superinduces diseases, among which ophthalmic com- 
plaints are the most prevailing. The streets of Valetta are thronged with a squalid 
set of the most persecuting beggars, whose supplications for " carita" are as incessant, 
and more annoying to the ear, even than the ringing of the bells. 

The boats, which are very numerous, afford a striking and pleasing feature in the 
general appearance of the place : though seemingly very clumsy, they are rowed 
with great velocity by the natives, who stand up and push at the oar ; they are safe 
and commodious, always kept remarkably clean, and painted with the gayest colors, 
having an eye on each side of the stern ; they are also provided with a white cotton 
awning and curtains for fine weather, and a more substantial covering for rain ; they 
are well regulated, and their hire is very moderate. The boatraces, which are fre- 
quent, offer a very lively and animated scene. The water is beautifully clear, and 
generally crowded with boys bathing, many of whom spend nearly as much time in 
that element as on shore : the Maltese are universally good swimmers and divers ; 
and the numerous fastdays of the catholic church give employment to many in sup- 
plying the market with fish. 

Malta is very subject to the oppressive and enervating "sirocco," or southeast 
wind ; but the " gregali," or northeast wind, is that which blows with the greatest 
fury, and blowing directly into the harbor, causes a sea across the entrance that 
would be dangerous to small vessels, and cuts off the communication across from Va- 
letta to Vittorioso. The surf there beats against the walls of the fortifications with 
impetuous violence ; it has even at times removed the guns from the embrasures of 
Fort Ricasoli, and the spray has been carried over the top of the palace. 

The island produces some excellent fruits, among which are the oranges and mel- 
ons for which it is particularly celebrated ; but the market is chiefly supplied from 
Sicily, a number of large boats, called " speroneras," being constantly employed run- 
ning to and fro. Provisions are cheap and abundant, but butchers' meat is indiffer- 
ent. There is a lighthouse in Fort St. Elmo, occupying a very advantageous situ- 
ation. 

Valetta itself is built on the narrow neck of land which dividesthe two ports, occu- 
pying an area of five hundred and sixty acres. The first stone was laid in 1566, by 
the famous grand-master, John de la Valette, after having, the year before, obliged 
the Turks to abandon a protracted and vigorous siege against the order, who then 
inhabited the opposite shores of the island, called Burmola and Isola. The new 
city, however, soon surpassed the other parts in population, buildings, and commer- 
cial importance, and now gives name to the whole, which properly consists of five 
distinct quarters or towns, viz. : On the north side of the port, Valetta and Floriana, 
and on the south side, Vittoriosa, Burmola, and Isola, the latter three enclosed in an 
extensive line of fortification called the Cotonera. 

The streets are at right angles to each other, and being built on an elevation in- 
clining on either side, most of the transverse streets are necessarily constructed with 
flights of steps, which Lord Byron has justly anathematized as " cursed streets of 
stairs," an expression that might be drawn from the most pious while toiling up them 
on a sultry summer's day. The houses are low — never exceeding a second story — 
built of the stone of the island, and are provided with balconies to most of the win- 
dows, and flat, terraced roofs, which, in commanding situations, furnish an agreeable 
resort in the cool of the day ; also to catch the rain, which is conducted by pipes to 
a cistern, with which every house is provided. There are likewise public fountains, 
the source of whose supply is in the southern part of the island, and conveyed to the 
city by means of an aqueduct. The streets are generally wide and well paved, with 
a broad footpath on each side ; but the glare caused by the reflection of the sun on 
the sandstone is so intolerably distressing to the eyes, as to render walking out during 
the middle of the day almost impossible. 

The palace, at present occupied by the governor, was formerly the residence of the 
grand-master of the order. It is a large and handsome quadrangular building, with 
a spacious courtyard in the centre ; it stands about the middle and highest part of the 
town, and on it is the signal station. It contains some beautiful specimens of tapes- 
try, and paintings of the grand-masters ; and has a very extensive armory attached to 
't, with curious specimens of armor and weapons. Before this palace is an open 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— MALTA. 




460 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

space called the Piazza St. Giorgio, used as a military parade, and enlivened in the 
evenings by one of the regimental hands. 

Near the Piazza St. Giorgio is the cathedral of St. John, the tutelar saint of the 
order, a vast, though externally a remarkably plain and unostentatious edifice ; within 
is a spacious oblong area, and on each side are aisles, with particular altars and chap- 
els for the different nations composing the order, adorned with paintings or sculp, 
ture, according to the zeal or riches of the " Tongue," as it was technically called, to 
which it belonged. The whole pavement is, however, richly emblazoned Tvith the 
armorial bearings of the knights, in mosaic. The appointments of this cathedral 
suffered greatly during the temporary possession of the island by the French ; a 
handsome silver railing round one of the altars escaped their sacrilegious rapacity 
only by being painted. The vaults below the cathedral are also curious. Besides 
St. John, Valetta abounds in churches, the incessant ringing of whose bells is among 
the greatest nuisances of the place. Although the island has been in possession of 
the English since 1800, no protestant church has been built ; a small chapel in the 
palace, and one at the dockyard, being the only places of worship of the episcopal 
church. The next objects are the hotels, or inns of the different nations, where 
they held their meetings. These still retain their distinguished appellations, though 
now variously applied — some to quarters for officers of the garrison, some to private 
individuals, and one, having the only large room floored with plank in the town, has 
become the scene of public assemblies. Valetta has its banks and exchanges, and 
there are also public hospitals, a very good theatre, and cofi'eehouses fitted up with 
marble, where the visiter may enjoy that luxury in a hot climate, ice, brought over 
from Etna. There are two libraries ; one which belonged to the knights, compri- 
sing about forty thousand volumes of Greek, Latin, French, and Italian works ; the 
other a subscription library, established by the English residents. 

Valetta, on the whole, is a gay and interesting place, not only from its former 
eventful history and chivalrous masters, but from its present state. Its commercial 
activity, its political importance, and its central situation in the Mediterranean, all 
conduce to make it the resort of a great variety of nations, ranks, and characters, 
from all quarters of the globe. 

* In no place of equally circumscribed extent is the confluence of strangers greater 
that at Malta. It is the most important quarantine station in the Mediterranean; 
and since the development of steam navigation, it is resorted to by travellers from 
all countries. It is constantly frequented by trading-vessels from France and Italy 
to the Levant ; to the British ships-of-war on the Mediterranean station, it is a most 
convenient rendezvous ; and the steam-vessels to Gibraltar, to Corfu, and Patras, and 
to Beyrout and Alexandria, find it indispensable to touch at the island for a supply 
of coal. If the path to India through the Mediterranean should continue to increase 
in importance, Malta will be one of the principal links in this line of intercommu- 
nication ; and whenever naval warfare is carried on by steamships, its value will be 
greatly increased, if that be possible, as success may depend upon a supply of fuel, 
and that will be contingent on the vicinity to a depot of coal. It will become as 
essential to have in store a supply of coal as of gunpowder, or any other munition 
of war. 

The history of Malta to the close of the last century is identified with that of the 
knights of Malta, an account of Avhich order would occupy too much space here ; 
but the circumstances which attended its change, and eventually led to the taking 
possession of Malta by the British, form an interesting point in the history of the 
island. 

The knights of Malta were classed into seven nations, called " languages," namely, 
Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon, Germany, and England. During the 
middle ages, they and the Templars animated and led on the supporters of the 
cross, and by their exertions, successfully defended the Christians of the east of 
Europe from the domination of the Mussulmans. This was a period in which the 
knights occupied a useful and natural station, and the institution was in unison with 
existing interests. But it ceased to be so when the objects of the order were ful- 
filled ; and when the French revolution shook the stability of even the firmest insti- 
tutions, that of the knights of Malta, which had long been declining, could not be 
expected to survive the shock. In 1798, a French expedition, with 40,000 men, 
arrived off the island, and the knights of the French " language" or " langue" were 
already prepared to abandon the general interests of the order, The grand-master 



462 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN \ 

was destitute of every quality whichi such an emergency demanded, and nothing 
effectual was done to concert measures of defence. A series of blunders was all 
which he accomplished. The people were more chivalrous, and flew to arms, but 
they were deluded by false assurances of security. The day after their arrival, the 
French landed, and quietly took up the best positions for an attack, unmolested 
except by some Maltese battalions. The grand-master, learning that some of the 
French knights had been killed and wounded by the people, solicited the French 
admiral for a suspension of hostilities, and was allowed twenty-four hours to con- 
clude the capitulation of the island. On the French general hastily inspecting the 
fortifications, as soon as they were occupied by his troops, one of his suite is reported 
to have said to him : " It is well, general, that some one was within to open the 
gates for us. We should have had some difficulty in entering, if the place had been 
altogether empty." General Vaubois, with four thousand men, was left in posses- 
sion of the island, and the remainder of the troops sailed for Egypt. 

In less than three months, the conduct of the French had increased the irritation 
of the Maltese to such a degree, that they broke out in a sudden and general revolt. 
Scarcely ever were conquerors less discreet than the French had been. In this 
short period they had abolished titles and ranks, reorganized all the establishments, 
formed a new government and municipality, and melted down the plate belonging to 
the churches. The law affecting the tenure of property had been tampered with, 
and a decree was issued, directmg that the sons of the richest families should be 
sent to France for their education. The terms of the capitulation Avere, in fact, 
regarded as a dead letter. The immediate occasion of the outbreak was an attempt 
to take some rich silk damask from the churches and convents. A gendeman resi- 
ding in Malta, has published the following account of the formidable attitude of the 
Maltese #vhen their feelings of justice and patriotism were thoroughly aroused : 
" The energy and daring which the Maltese thus early showed in their patriotic 
warfare, surprised General Vaubois, who had been accustomed to consider them as 
wretched peasants. From this moment the gates of Valetta and the three cities 
were closed, and the garrison was kept in a close state of blockade for two years. 
During this long period, the Maltese gave proof of a patriotic ardor and long-suffer- 
ing which few people would have equalled. Unanimous in their object, all their 
measures were taken with prudence and order. They collected arms, and established 
a system which gave method to all their operations, and their levy of men was divi- 
ded into bodies or battalions, and distributed in the towers on the coast and through- 
out the country, with almost as much order as regular troops. The attempts made 
by the French general at conciliation were not listened to ; his messengers were 
never allowed to go back ; and he soon found to his surprise that the people had 
firmness enough to persevere in the enterprise they had undertaken, notwithstanding 
they were at present single-handed. With more than six thousand well-disciplined 
troops under his command (the soldiers and crews of the vessels which escaped from 
Aboukir having been incorporated with them) he was unable to make a sortie in 
sufficient force to overawe his enemies ; for the people of Valetta, encouraged by the 
movement of their countrymen, and borne down by forced contributions, and the 
privations inseparable from a state of siege, were not to be left uiiwatched within 
the walls." 

During these two years it is stated that not fewer than twenty thousand persons 
died of misery and famine ; but in the midst of their difficulties the people spiritedly 
refused the offer of some of the recreant knights to come to their assistance, and as- 
sist in expelling the invaders. The French soldiers supported their privations with 
characteristic buoyancy ; they made gardens in the fortifications, from which they 
raised fruit and vegetables. At one period a pound of fresh pork sold for a dollar ; 
salt meat, fifty cents ; the commonest fish, forty cents ; a fowl, ten dollars ; a pigeon, 
two dollars ; a pound of sugar, four dollars ; coffee, four dollars fifty cents ; a good fat 
rat, forty cents. 

After the battle of the Nile, Lord Nelson, who had become warmly interested in 
the Maltese, sent four Portuguese ships-of-the-line and two frigates to blockade Va- 
letta ; and in little more than a month afterward he appeared himself with fourteen 
ships-of-war, and summoned the French to surrender, to which a laconic refusal was 
sent by the French general. Lord Nelson was obliged to leave the island, his own 
ships being much disabled ; but he left the Portuguese squadron to maintain the 
blockade. The future reliance of the Maltese was on Nelson and the British gov- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— MALTA. 463 

ernment. The king of Sicily had supplied them with powder and shot, and after- 
ward allowed them to receive corn from his granaries, on credit. Captain Ball, who 
commanded the blockading squadron subsequently appointed, had directions from 
Nelson to supply the inhabitants with provisions as far as was practicable. In the 
beginning of 1799, the affairs of the Maltese were placed on a footing which led to 
many immediate advantages. A congress was formed, of which Captain Ball was 
president, and under its eye the civil and military affairs were administered ; a pub- 
lic loan was authorized ; customs' duties regulated ; and two bays were made the 
ports for trade. The blockade by sea and land was rigidly preserved, and batteries 
were raised, which kept the besieged constantly on the alert. In December, 1799, 
the Maltese were reinforced by several British and Sicilian regiments, who were 
officially styled the allied troops at the blockade of Valetta. In September, 1800, Gen- 
eral Vaubois made proposals to surrender the place, and an act of capitulation was 
signed on the 5th, under which the French troops were allowed to march out as far 
as the seashore with all the honors of war, where they grounded their arms. The 
blockade had endured two years and two days. The British squadron entered the 
port the next day, and their ensign was hoisted at St. Elmo amid the acclamations 
of the Maltese. 

Lord Nelson had assured the Maltese that they should be under the protection of 
England, Russia, and Prussia, until the peace, which was eventually declared in 
1802. According to the treaty of Amiens, the British troops were to have evacuated 
Malta, and the island was to be restored to the knights, on condition that there 
should be neither an English nor a French " langue," and that a Maltese " langue" 
to be established, should enjoy all the privileges of the rest. But hostilities recom- 
menced before these provisions of the treaty had been executed, and during the long 
war which followed, Malta was held in military possession by Great Britain. Du- 
ring this memorable period it became the headquarters of the British army in the 
Mediterranean, the rendezvous of their ships-of-war, and the emporium of an active 
commerce which was shut out from the continental ports. 

When the peace at length came, Malta was formally recognised in the treaties 
signed by the representatives of the European powers as an integral part of the Brit- 
ish dominions. The Maltese obtained a sovereign of their own choice, and, under 
the maritime power of Britain, that protection which their insular position renders 
essential to their prosperity. 

It is not difficult to foresee what would be the characteristics of an exclusive body 
like that of the knights of Malta, after most of the purposes of their institution had 
been accomplished, and they were no longer surrounded by those dangers which 
once gave a lofty and heroic spirit to their union. The treatment which their Mal- 
tese subjects endured displays the arrogance and tyranny of haughty military chiefs. 
For them the law was no protection against the will of a grand-master, and at his 
bidding they might be put to death without the forms of trial. So recently as 1775, 
three untried Maltese prisoners were strangled while under confinement by order of 
the grand-master Ximines. But when a knight had rendered himself amenable to 
the laws — if he had even committed murder — he could not be arrested for his crimes 
until deprived of the badge of the order, a degradation to the institution which was 
easily avoided. In civil cases the grand-master could change the decision of the 
judges, who were removable by the council of the order, if their uprightness and 
impartiality proved inconvenient. Corruptness in the administration of the laws 
spread its taint over the morals of the people ; and it was scarcely considered dis- 
graceful to be the mistress of a knight. Feelings of self-respect constitute one of the 
best preservatives of virtue ; but in Malta at this period the spirit of the ruling body 
overpowered these beneficial tendencies by its exclusiveness and selfish pride. A 
Maltese was not permitted to aspire to honorable offices ; and in each of the public 
departments of business the highest rank which he could reach was rigidly guarded, 
lest from any personal favor it should be overleaped. On one occasion the knights 
broke out into a revolt because a grand-master had dared to trespass upon this privi- 
leged ground by appointing several natives to the rank of adjutant in the Maltese 
regiment. To crown these attempts to degrade the people, we may add that the 
heads of the most respectable families in the island were not allowed to walk on the 
Piazza de' Cavalieri without permission ! It would have been a misfortune had the 
treaty of Amiens been executed, and the Maltese again handed over to the rule of so 
decrepit and useless a body as the order of St.. John had then become. The institu- 



464 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— MALTA. 465 

tion now exists only as a small college at Rome, where a few brethren live together, 
professing to employ themselves solely in deeds of charity. 

Under the British dominion, the government of Malta is conducted by a governor, 
who is assisted in the legislative department by a council of six persons : the Maltese 
are British fellow-subjects, enjoying the same privileges as any British-born resident. 
Justice is administered without favor, and the judges are appointed for life. In the 
regiment of Maltese Fencihles, in 1836, the officers, with two exceptions, were all 
natives, and held a corresponding rank in the British army. Under the knights, no 
native could wear the mitre ; but now a native bishop is received with military hon- 
ors by British troops, and the clergy have to acknowledge, not only English tolerance, 
but English encouragement of their religion. On saints' days, the military on duty 
fire salutes and do honor to the festival. 

Acquiring possession of Malta, as England did, partly by force of arms, it is 
scarcely surprising that some grievances should have been the result of this mode of 
incorporating it with Great Britain. The peace of 1814, and the plague in the pre- 
ceding year, by leading to great commercial changes, rendered the Maltese peculi- 
arly susceptible of any neglect which might be shown toward them by successive 
governors, and their complaints at length reached the British throne. In 1836, a pe- 
tition was presented to the house of commons, which set forth the wants and wishes 
of the Maltese people. Their principal demands were for a reform of the law, mod- 
erate liberty of the press, improvements in the system of education and elementary 
instruction, relief from the heavy excise duty on wine, a participation in the emolu- 
ments of office, besides some other advantages which they claimed. In the same 
year a commission was sent to the island to report upon these grievances; and sev- 
eral important changes were subsequently made, and others are under consideration, 
which will tend, as far as possible, to place the natives on the footing of a self-gov- 
erned community. 

The public revenue of Malta and Gozo amounts to about half a million of dollars 
per annum, of which sum nearly three fourths arise from customs' duties and quaran- 
tine dues ; the remainder is derived from the rents of government-houses and lands, 
and several small duties. The revenue is employed in the payment of the officers 
of government, in the maintenance of public buildings, streets, and roads, and in dis- 
bursements to the university, elementary schools, and extensive charitable institu- 
tions. The sum of six hundred and sixty thousand pounds sterling has been given 
to the Maltese at two different periods — on the occasion of the British taking pos- 
session of the island, and during the plague in 1813. The sums expended by the 
garrison and fleet, and by the British government for general purposes, are not less 
than one hundred and sixty thousand pounds sterling a year ; so that, as in the days 
when the order of St. John flourished, large sums are annually drawn from other 
quarters and expended in the island. ^ 

We do not meet with many striking diversities of character in the Maltese. In 
the village population, manners and customs present a combination of the character- 
istics of the south of Europe and of the opposite coast of Africa, to which are added 
some traits which remind the traveller of Turkey and Arabia. The peasantry are 
generally thick-lipped and their complexions dark, with black and shining eyes, 
which give to the women an oriental style of beauty. Dark eyes are, not by any 
means universal, there being many persons in the villages with the blue northern 
eye. In many individuals the hair has a woolly appearance resembling the African. 
The dress of the people is thus described in Martin's account of Malta : — 

" They are clothed in a loose cotton shirt, over which is a wide vest or jacket, 
with silver, sometimes gold buttons ; a long twisted scarf wound several times round 
the body, with very often a sheathed knife placed therein ; loose trowsers, leaving 
the legs bare from nearly the knees downward ; and very peculiar shoes, called 
'korch,' which is a leathern sole fastened with strings or thongs to the foot and leg, 
nearly like the old Roman sandal ; the head, in winter, is covered with a woollen 
cap of different colors, having a hood attached, and falling down on the back: in 
summer, large straw hats are worn. The women are attached to their primitive 
dress, consisting of a short cotton shirt, a petticoat generally of a blue color, an up- 
per robe opening at the side, and a corset with sleeves." 

The English costume, or a very close approximation to it, is adopted by the higher 
classes, whose character, it is said, is marked by some resemblance to the French- 
man and the modern Greek. The black silk veil, called the " faldetta," worn by 

30 



466 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




Maltese Lady, wearing the " Faldetta," and attended by her Servant. 

Maltese ladies, is as charming in its appearance as the mantilla of the beautiful 
women of Spain, and is shifted with bewitching effect by those who know how to 
employ it gracefully in exposing either a side or a full view of the face. Of the 
Maltese of all classes it may be said that they are generally of amiable disposition, 
neither drunkards nor quarrelsome, but frugal and industrious, and under misfortune 
patient and enduring to a degree which seems like the oriental reliance upon events. 
They enjoy music, dancing, and other relaxations, with great spirit, and the innu- 
merable fetes of the church are attended with great exactness, being something in- 
termediate between the more sober duties of religion and secular pleasures. No- 
where has the catholic church a more zealous flock. The number of priests or 
ecclesiastics of some description is in the proportion of about one in a hundred. The 
village-churches are spacious, and the service is performed better than in many of 
the towns on the continent. 

In Malta we may regard the social state of the people uncomplicated by the thou- 
sand causes which perplex the observer of society in such a country as England. 
Poverty, the uncertainty of obtaining food, and either occasional or habitual mendi- 
cancy or dependence upon charitable institutions, are, we regret to say, the features 
which most arrest attention. The population has been increasing, while the sources 
of employment have not latterly increased, but probably diminished. Three centu- 
ries ago, the population, amounting to fifteen thousand, was in a state of great wretch- 
edness and destitution ; and at present it exceeds one hundred and fifteen thousand. 
In 1835, the number of deaths was 2,495, while the births were 3,356, being an ex- 
cess of 861. The Maltese marry very early, and girls become mothers at the age of 
fifteen, and in occasional instances at thirteen. Few opportunities occur of bettering 
their condition, and the general poverty of the lower classes leads to a carelessness 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— MALTA. 467 

of the future. There are not many laborers of the age of twenty-five who are un- 
married, and but few of them make any provision before marriage, while it is hope- 
less to attempt this afterward ; though it must be recollected that the task of bring- 
ing up a family is less onerous in such a climate as that of Malta, where poverty is 
disarmed of many of its evils, and is not the sordid and squalid wretchedness which 
exists in a northern climate. As a proof how little the future impresses them with 
any dark shadows, it is sufficient to state that they are almost generally under the 
necessity of borrowing clothes for the wedding. The Maltese are kind and affec- 
tionate, and the ties of kindred are strongly felt among them. Some partial diminu- 
tion of the general poverty is occasioned by emigration, or rather migration, for the 
Maltese are migrants rather than colonists. This arises from their strong attach- 
ment to their native island, and is probably also a consequence of the vicinity of the 
various fields for employment to which they generally j^roceed. The scales of the 
Levant, the towns on the Barbary coast, the Ionian islands, Spain, Egypt, Constan- 
tinople, are the resort of the migrant Maltese, where they are employed as sailors, 
boatmen, joiners, carpenters, tailors, &c. They are chiefly young men who are sin- 
gle, and, as soon as they have raised a little money, they return home and settle for 
life. They want the spirit and energy which enable men to leave cherished scenes 
and cleave to a new land. Some of the Maltese have, however, recently proceeded 
to more distant places. A party have proceeded under indentures to British Guiana, 
and some have gone to the Brazils. In the West-India islands they would succeed 
better than laborers from Great Britain, to whom the difference of climate is a se- 
vere trial. Tripoli and other parts of the Barbary coast are the parts to which they 
soonest become reconciled. The difference between the Latin and the eastern 
churches is perhaps an obstacle to their permanent settlement in Greece. 

The soil of Malta is remarkable for the small quantity of vegetable matter which 
it contains in proportion to its fertility ; but although calcareous in its nature, being 
a decomposition of a soft stone or rock which is very abundant, its properties are fa- 
vorable to production. The natives often partially remove the mould for the pur- 
pose of accelerating the decomposition of the rock on which it rests, and the action 
of the air and water soon pulverize it. The cultivated parts of the island are dis- 
posed in terraces, often resembling a flight of steps, and great is the industry and pa- 
tience bestowed upon such unpromising fields. One half of the land in the island, 
or about fifty thousand acres, is cultivated. Cotton and grain are the two most im- 
portant articles of produce, particularly the former, nearly one fourth of the cultivated 
land being devoted to the production of cotton, the annual value of which is about 
six hundred thousand dollars ; the quantity of grain raised only suffices for the con- 
sumption of one third of the year. The cotton-yarn finds a market at Genoa, but 
the greater part of it is spun upon the island. The live stock comprises about five 
thousand horses, mules, and asses (the latter of a superior kind), six thousand five 
hundred horned cattle, twelve thousand five hundred sheep, and seven thousand 
goats. Vegetables and fruits are in great abundance and variety ; and green food for 
the cattle constitutes an intermediate crop. 

It is calculated that two thirds of the land under cultivation belong to the church 
and the government. Few proprietors engage in agricultural pursuits, but let their 
land usually on a lease of eight years ; while the church lands are commonly let for 
a term of four years. Land of the best quality sells at about two hundred and fifty 
dollars an acre. Land-owners, tenants, and peasantry, are alike oppressed by the 
general poverty which pervades the island : the competition for land is so great, that 
the value of the produce is absorbed in rent, and the profit of the tenant is derived 
from his own labor as wages. Not five tenants in one hundred possess the necessary 
implements of labor, although so small a sum as ten or fifteen dollars would, in the 
case of a small occupier, suffice to procure them. The wages of field-labor are from 
twelve to sixteen cents a day in the busiest parts of the year ; but one half the farmers 
are unable to pay money-wages, and give their laborers produce instead, generally 
cotton, wheat and barley mixed together, or bread, all of which they charge above 
the market-price. Spinning is the chief employment of the laborer's family^ ; but 
when employed in the field, the wife gets six cents a day, and children under sixteen 
about two and a half cents. The laborers in agriculture can, however, only calcu- 
late upon obtaining employment in the months of April, May, June, and September ; 
and at other periods the greater number of them are ^^ut of work. It is stated by a 
late resident of the island that the Maltese subsist on " barley-bread, cheese, carob 



468 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

or other beans, and soup of maize or millet with herbs, when in employ ; when out 
of employ, a little bread and soup only." As soon as employment fails, begging is 
the chief resource of the poor. In Gozo, one sixth of the population resort to men- 
dicant habits when the demand for field-labor ceases. Private charity is unusu- 
ally active, and one sixth of the revenues of the island are expended on charitable 
institutions ; but these can not supply the blessings of independent sources of profita- 
ble labor. As a consequence of the frequent occurrence of seasons of poverty, the 
robbery of agricultural produce from the fields is one of the most common ofi'ences in 
the rural parts of the island ; the repression of this crime is found to be extremely dif- 
ficult, as so large a proportion of the people have a common sympathy with the 
offenders : and should witnesses be found to give evidence, even if the suffe:^ers have 
courage to prosecute, modes of revenge are adopted which it is almost impossible to 
defeat. The farmers endeavor to protect themselves by setting a watch upon their 
gardens day and night, and produce is often prematurely gathered to avoid this 
heavy, and, on all accounts, grievous expense. Epidemic maladies, it is asserted in 
the reports of the Maltese commissioners sent out by the British government, some- 
times occur from the insufficiency or unwholesomeness of the food to which many of 
the people are driven for a subsistence. To appease hunger, they eat herbs and 
roots fit only for cattle. The agricultural population of Malta is thus classed in offi- 
cial statements: proprietors, 443 families ; tenants of land, 1,591 ; laborers, 3,491 ; 
shepherds, 210 : being a total of 5,735 families, and 28,675 persons. 

The non-agricultural labor of the villages consists chiefly in spinning, either with 
the spinning-wheel or sometimes with the spindle, and weaving cloth, cotton, and 
canvass for the clothing of the laboring class. But employment in spinning is only 
to be obtained during a small portion of the year, spinners not finding dealers to give 
them cotton. This species of labor is wretchedly paid ; and it is stated that " a wo- 
man spinning from four o'clock in the morning till nine at night will not gain a sin- 
gle penny (two cents), after deducting the expense of oil for light." This reminds 
one of the rate of wages in Hindostan, rather than in an island whose situation would 
enable its inhabitants to participate in the advantages of the European standard of 
remuneration for labor. But since the Maltese are not disposed to exert themselves 
in seeking out the best market for their labor, it probably might not be found an un- 
profitable speculation for the capitalist to establish himself among them as a manu- 
facturer of cotton or other goods : for here he would find labor extremely cheap, the 
raw material at hand, and countries to which he might export his commodities fa- 
vorably situated for commercial intercourse. The average rate of wages in most of 
the common trades and handicrafts at Malta does not exceed fifty cents a week. 
The fishery is a resource to about four hundred persons, the greater number of whom 
own a boat. The men who are employed by the owners have each one share in the 
produce ; another share is for the boat, and two shares for the net. The non-agri- 
cultural portion of the productive classes is thus distributed : merchants, dealers, 
and shopkeepers, 1,690 families ; manufacturers, 253; artisans, 753 ; clerks, 316; 
laborers, 2,747 ; seamen in merchant-service, 3,370 ; fishermen and boatmen, 1,900 : 
porters, 633 ; muleteers and drivers, 590. In 1835, according to an official return 
made to the British government, the value of the principal manufactures of the 
island was estimated at one hundred and twenty-nine thousand, five hundred pounds 
sterling, namely : cotton sail-cloth, twenty-four thousand pounds ; napkins, table- 
cloths, counterpanes, cloth for trowsers, &c., fifty-eight thousand five hundred pounds ; 
cotton-yarn spun by hand, thirty-five thousand pounds ; wrought gold and silver, 
twelve thousand pounds. 

Living is cheap and good at Malta, and the amusements are various. The Italian 
opera is open three times a week, and there is a club at Valetta on a large scale, 
well provided with newspapers, periodicals, and books. There is not much inter- 
course between the English and the Maltese, and few of the latter speak English 
perfectly. The constant arrival of travellers, diplomatists, missionaries, antiquari- 
ans, and others, forms an agreeable variation in so small a society. 

No inland sea, nor even any part of the ocean, is so frequently thronged with the 
ships-of-war of so many maritime powers as the Mediterranean. The Baltic sea 
witnesses only the manoeuvres of the Russian fleet during a few weeks in summer, 
and the Black sea is traversed only by the fleet of that power ; but in the Mediter- 
ranean the squadrons of England, France, Russia, the United States, Turkey, and 
{Igypt perform their evolutions. These magnificent ships-of-war have replaced the 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— MALTA. 469 

"galeasses" of the Venetiaas and the galleys of the order of Malta and other naval 
powers of the Mediterranean. Happily the excessive exertion of human strength in 
its rudest shape, once required in these galleys, is no longer demanded, and mechani- 
cal improvements, and, above all, more considerate feelings, render it impossible to 
find anything like a parallel to the labors of the galley-slaves in any branch of in- 
dustry, hovsrever low and oppressed may be the condition of those engaged in it. 

The Venetians employed galleys of a larger size than any other power in the Medi- 
terranean. Their largest galleys or galleasses were one hundred and sixty two feet 
long, and thirty-two feet wide ; they had three masts, but the oars were the most con- 
stant moving power, for they were employed even when the wind filled the sails with 
a fair breeze. Each of the largest galeasses had thirty-two banks of oars, each bank 
consisting of two oars. Galleys of smaller dimensions had twenty-five banks of 
oars, and were called half-galleys ; and those still smaller, having from twelve to 
sixteen banks of oars, were called quarter-galleys. They were armed with cannon. 
At one period, the galleys of the order of Malta were occasionally recruited by 
presents of criminals from different sovereigns of Europe, the Turkish and African 
captives not living long enough under the killing work to which they were subjected. 
Conceive the thirst of gain or blood and vengeance animating the officers and men 
of a galley in pursuit of a prize, and the over- wrought powers of the slaves chained 
to the oars and subjected to the lash during a chase of many hours ! 

France at one time had its galleys in the Mediterranean ports. Henry IL issued 
an ordinance for sending houseless beggars to the galleys, and in 1660 it was again 
put in force. So recently as 1770, an ordinance appeared in France for sending able- 
bodied beggars and vagrants to these receptacles for all that was odious in crime or 
miserable in fortune. In 1731, Joseph Davies, of Chester, wrote a small pamphlet, 
recommending the employment of convicts in galleys at Gibraltar and Port Mahon. 
The dreadful nature of this punishment was then well understood in every country 
of Europe, and Davies had great faith in the efficacy of the alarm which would be 
occasioned by " the bare apprehension of being made a galley-slave." These galleys, 
he conceived, would be found advantageous to our trade in the Mediterranean, and 
in time of war they might be useful in action in towing a disabled ship out of danger. 
Davies wrote under the conviction that the number of men who were executed had 
little or no eff'ect in reducing the amount of crime ; and that the punishment of 
transportation was a mockery, besides being morally injurious to our plantations or 
settlements. 

After the revocation of the edict of Nantes, many of the persecuted protestants 
were sentenced to the galleys for not leaving the kingdom within the required time, 
and various devices were employed at the ports by their enemies to hinder their 
embarkation when ihey were most anxious to do so. Jean Bion, an ecclesiastic who 
acted as priest and confessor on board one of the French galleys, published an ac- 
count of the suff'erings of these persecuted men. " The weakest among them," he 
says, " rowed, in parts where the most vigorous can hardly hold it, under a shower 
of blows." Elie Neau, in 1699, and several other individuals about the same time, 
shocked the whole of Europe by a detail of the system which prevailed in the gal- 
leys. They drew upon France such general remonstrances, ihat the system was in- 
quired into and some of its evils abated. There were about three hundred convicted 
persons on board each galley, and one hundred and fifty officers, task-masters, and 
sailors. Five men were employed at each oar, one of whom was generally a 
Turkish slave. Exposed to the mid-day heat and the chilling damps of the night, 
insufficiently fed and clothed, packed together so closely as to cause disease, and 
sleeping on nothing but a hard plank, the utter wretchedness and immoralities of 
such a condition may be conceived rather than described. The movement of the 
oars was effected by rising forward, and then resuming the sitting attitude. Men 
with pliant sticks or canes walked along a sort of gangway, seeing that every man 
did his duty ; and if the gang at any oar failed to exert themselves so fully as the 
rest, the whole five were alike severely punished on their naked shoulders ; and in 
entering a port or executing difficult manoeuvres, the blows increased in number and 
vigor. Such a dreadful system of cruelty and injustice was practised, that punish- 
ment, so far from leading to any amendment of character, excited blasphemies and 
horrible depravations of the heart. The waste of life in the galleys was, as may be 
supposed, very great. The treatment of the sick was so wretched, that these misera- 
ble beings preferred dying at the oar rather than entering the place for their reception. 



470 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Drugs were provided by the government ; but, before the galleys were placed under 
better management, the surgeons were in the habit of selling the government sup- 
plies. It will scarcely be believed in these days, that among the persons condemned 
to the galleys were peasants who had been torn from their wives and families, and 
placed among the most depraved characters, for the crime of purchasing salt in 
another province than that in which they resided. Salt was heavily taxed, and the 
laws for collecting the tax were rigorous in the extreme. The French peasant lived 
almost wholly on soup, and this condiment, so absolutely essential, was not within 
his scanty means in one province, but might be in another, to which his poverty 
compelled him to resort, in spite of the apprehended punishment. 

Splendid fetes were sometimes given on board the galleys to persons of distinction, 
and. costly viands and the strains of music mocked the sufferings of the wretched 
slaves. They were required to receive the visiters with a round of cheers. Happily 
this system at Malta and elsewhere is at an end. At the former place " our boats 
are hauled up in the galley arches: our admiral hoists his flag on the house of the 
admiral of the galleys." 

Our engraving represents a party of sailors enjoying their brief sojourn ashore, 
having hired a calesse the better to indulge their freaks. How different in character 
and spirit from the wretched slave of the galleys. " The calesse of Malta," says 
the Penny Cyclopaedia, " is an uncouth-looking vehicle slung upon a clumsy pair of 
wheels and shafts, and is made to carry four persons, but always drawn by one horse, 
by the side of which the driver runs." Our seamen find themselves quite at home in 
the island, and Mr. Slade, in his work on " Turkey, Greece, and Malta," says : " In 
consequence of the aquatic and nautical turn of the Maltese, sailors are decidedly the 
favorites over all classes of people." Bui Mr. Slade is himself a naval officer, and 
perhaps, therefore, too partial to his profession ; but in the following extract he is 
well entitled to speak on behalf of its members: " Sailors love the place ; returning 
to it from a cruise is like returning home. Expressly calculated for our wishes, our 
follies, our wants, all enjoy it, from the captain down to the cabin-boy. Balls are 
gay, dinner-parties are numerous, horses are fleet, wine is cheap, grog is plentiful, 
fruit is abundant, the police is civil, the soldiers are friendly, the ships lies near the 
shore." 

The most memorable event in the military history of Malta is what is termed 
" The great siege." This occurred in 1565, when La Valette (a worthy successor to 
L'IsIe Adam) was great master of the order, and Solyman the magnificent, the 
conqueror of Rhodes, was still on the Turkish throne. 

The Turkish fleet appeared off Malta on the 18th of May : it consisted of one 
hundred and fifty-nine vessels, as well galleys as galliots, having on board thirty 
thousand land forces. Janizaries, and Spahis, all picked men : it was closely followed 
by many transports, which carried heavy artillery, the horses of the Spahis, more 
land troops, ammunitipn, and provisions. To oppose this force La Valette could only 
reckon upon seven hundred knights and eight thousand and five hundred soldiers ; 
but the fortifications of Malta, though not perfect, were already excellent, and taking 
posts upon them according to their languages, as they had done at Rhodes, the 
chivalry of Europe determined to defend them to the last. The Turks effected their 
landing at St. Thomas's creek, sometimes called the ladder port. A swarm of the 
barbarians separated from the main body to pillage in the country, and more than 
fifteen hundred of them were cut to pieces by the Christian soldiery. The grand- 
master at first permitted this fighting beyond the walls, in order to familiarize his 
men to the horrid cries and the manner of firing of the Turks ; but husbanding his 
men, he soon put a stop to it, and kept close within the different fortresses. 

On the 24th of May, the Turkish artillery began to batter in breach. The first 
place attacked was Fort St. Elmo, which defends the entrance into the great harbor 
on the west, as Fort Ricasoli defends it on the east. Eighty ten-pounders, two 
culverins (sixty-pounders), and a basilisk, carrying stone balls of a prodigious diame- 
ter, kept up a constant fire from the landside, while seaward St. Elmo was battered 
by long culverins which did great mischief. 

In a few days the breach was opened, when the most murderous actions took 
place. The grand-master continued to ^end reinforcements to the important post, 
and every night the wounded were removed from it in boats. For more than a 
month, with open breaches, and with the walls falling around them and under them, 
did the knights gallantly hold out in St. Elmo where the Turks fell by thousands. In 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— MALTA. 



471 




472 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



storming the raveline the infidels lost three thousand men — the order twenty good 
knights and one hundred soldiers. Scenes occurred that were worthy of the infernal 
regions. The gunners of the order invented a kind of firework, which had a fright- 
ful effect. Hoops of the lightest wood were dipped into brandy, rubbed with boiling 
oil, then covered with wool and cotton, soaked in other combustible .liquors, and 
mixed with saltpetre and gunpowder. On an assault fire was set to these hoops, 
which were then taken up with tongs, and thrown down in the midst of the assail- 
ants, who, crowded and driven together, had no means of escape. Such as got en- 
Jangled in them almost inevitably perished, and not unfrequently two or three 
Turks were involved in the fiery embrace of one hoop, and burnt alive together. 
The cries, the shrieks of these poor wretches — the groans of the wounded, the long 
rattling of the musketry, and then the roar of the artillery, made a very pandemonium 
upon earth. At last St. Elmo fell, having been so surrounded by the Turks, that it 
could receive no more reinforcements from other parts of the garrison. "When the 
infidels entered that little fort, they found not a single knight alive. One hundred 
and thirty of the best of the order, with more than thirteen hundred soldiers, fell in 
the defence, but in the attack the Turks lost eight thousand men. 

This bloody page may serve as a specimen of the horrid warfare which we have 
neither space nor inclination to describe in detail. After many variations of fortune, 
under some of which they were near taking St. Angelo, St. Michael's, and the other 
forts and works, the Turks, utterly dispirited by the arrival of a general of the 
viceroy of Sicily with reinforcements for the Christians, broke up the siege, and fled 
in the greatest confusion to their ships. During the siege, which lasted three months 
and a half, the Turks are said to have lost twenty-five thousand men ; the Christians 
seven thousand, between soldiers and inhabitants, besides two hundred and sixty 
knights. The walls and buildings of the towns were little better than a heap of 
ruins; the casals, or villages, were nearly all burnt; the cisterns, upon which the 
island almost wholly depended for water, were drained ; and there remained in the 
hands of the knights neither money, provisions, nor men, to meet another siege, for 
which the sultan immediately prepared. In these circumstances La Valette had 
recourse to bribery, and engaged a set of desperate incendiaries, who succeeded in 
burning the arsenal at Constantinople, together with nearly all the Turkish ships in- 
tended for the expedition against Malta. This daring deed gave the knights a 
respite, and in the course of the following year their powerful enemy, Solyman the 
Magnificent, died wJiile making war in Hungary. In the meantime the fortifications 
were repaired, extended, and made infinitely stronger than ever ; the stone was laid 
for a new city, which was called La Valetta, and the name of the Borgo ^Burgh), 
where, next to St. Elmo, the hardest fighting had taken place, was changed mto that 
of " Citta Vittoriosa." 



mmMMmmsimmmmW'. 




Borghese Vase. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— TYROL. 473 



CHAPTER XIX.— TYROL. 

The Tyrol, or Tirol, is a province of the Austrian empire, bordering on Bavaria, 
Austria, Illyria, the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, Switzerland, and Lake Constance, 
comprising, a superficial area of 1,650 square miles, and a population of 774,457 
souls. Of all the countries in Europe, the Tyrol is the most exclusively mountain- 
ous. The Tyrolese Alps extend through the country. Some of the most remark- 
able summits are Ortler, Glockner, and Brenner. Tyrol resembles Switzerland; 
the valleys and lakes are less extensive, the cascades less numerous ; but there is the 
same sublime scenery, similar lofty and perpendicular mountains, covered with per- 
petual snow and ice ; the same contrast of the beautiful and terrific, of vineyards 
and wastes, of uninhabited summits, and populous valleys. 

No country contains a more romantic road than that over Mount Brenner, along 
the Adige. The climate, in consequence of the height of the mountains, is cold. 
Among the productions are corn, wine, silk, hemp, flax, and tobacco. Almost all 
kinds of minerals have been found ; but the only mines that have been worked to 
advantage are those of salt, iron, copper, and calamine. There are no less than 
sixty mineral springs in the country. The Lech, Etsch, Isar, Drave, and Brenta, 
rise in Tyrol ; the Inn, which rises in Switzerland, traverses it ; the Rhine only 
touches its borders ; Lakes Constance and Garda are also on its frontiers. The man- 
ufactures of silk and of metallic wares are the most important ; cotton and linen 
goods are also manufactured. The position of Tyrol, between Germany and Italy, 
and the facilities for passing over the Alps by good roads, render it the theatre of con- 
siderable transit trade. The Tyrolese wander all over Europe, and are even seen in 
America, but they always return to spend their savings at home. The number 
which leave the country annually in this way, is estimated at 30,000 or 40,000. The 
Tyrolese are chiefly of German extraction, only about 150,000 in the southern part 
of the country being Italians. The prevailing religion is catholic. The Tyrolese is 
gay, lively, faithful, honest, and ardently attached to his country, and hunting forms 
one of the principal employments of the Tyrolese mountaineer. He is seldom seen 
without his gun ; and the accompanying engraving will convey some notion of the 
picturesque character of his costume. 




Tyrolese Mountaineer. 

The estates of Tyrol were confirmed in their former privileges in 1816. There 
are four estates — the prelates, the nobles, the citizens, and the peasants. The seat 



474 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

of the government authorities is Innspruck ; the principal fortress, Kuffstein. This 
country was first conquered by the Romans in the time of Augustus, and at a later 
period was traversed and desolated by various barbarous tribes. The Franks, and, 
after the extinction of the Carlovingian dynasty, the dukes of Bavaria, obtained the 
sovereignty, but some of the counts continued to b'e powerful. In 1359, Margaret 
Maultasche, the only daughter of one of these, conveyed her possessions to the duke 
of Austria ; and Tyrol has since belonged to that power, with the exception of a 
short time, from 1805 to 1814. 

The Tyrol is one of the most picturesque countries in Europe. Its towering Alps, 
its glaciers, lakes, and waterfalls, are as striking as those of Switzerland, while its 
ruined towers, perched like eagles' nests on the summit of lofty rocks, and its royal 
and baronial castles, built during the middle ages, far exceed in number not only 
what are found in Switzerland, but in any country of the same extent. There are 
the charms, too, of picturesqueness of costume, and, among the peasantry, of a sim- 
plicity and primitiveness of manners, which would be sought for in vain m Switer- 
land, except among the small mountain and pastoral cantons which do not lie on the 
traveller's route or the highway of Europe ; and though the Tyrol has been less for- 
tunate than her neighbor in securing her independence, and the blessings of a free 
and national government, the inspiring associations of patriotism aud heroic courage 
are far from being wanting. Like the brave Swiss, the Tyroleans, few in number 
but bold in heart, have stood shoulder to shoulder in their mountain-passes, and driven 
back or destroyed hosts of foreign invaders ; they have often sent forth the sacred 
voice of liberty over the land and the lakes that lie embosomed within it ; and in our 
own days, when all the continent of Europe lay crouching before Bonaparte, the 
echoes of their sure rifles were heard ringing among the mquntains, as, headed by 
Hofer, they maintained a most unequal and heroic struggle with the French and Ba- 
varians. While, however, Switzerland is annually traversed by thousands of tour- 
ists, the Tyrol, which may be called its next-door neighbor, is rarely visited by the 
traveller. The reasons for this are obvious enough, for Switzerland in good part lies 
on the great highway ; it is the road into Italy, and is very accessible on the side of 
France and Germany, whereas the Tyrol lies off the great route ; it leads to nowhere, 
must be sought for itself, and is not particularly easy of access, seeing that the tour- 
ist must either make a circuit of part of Bavaria and cross the Bavarian Alps, or 
travel through the Grison valleys of the Engaddine, where all accommodations are 
of the roughest description. Within these few years, however, several have trav- 
elled through parts of Tyrol, and published their notions on the country. From 
their accounts, we will endeavor to draw up some information for our readers. 

A glance at a good map will show the situation of this rugged country, which is 
divided into two unequal parts, or the German Tyrol, which leans on Bavaria and 
Austria, and the Italian Tyrol, which slopes down t© the lakes and the fertile plains 
of Lombardy. Drawing a line across the country from east to west, leaving Botzen 
to the north, all the territory lying northward of this line will be the German Tyrol, 
and all south of it the Italian Tyrol. The German portion is the larger by nearly 
one third, but the Italian is, in proportion to its extent, much more populous, and 
abounding in larger and better-built towns and villages. The character, habits, and 
appearance of the people in the two divisions differ very widely. The inhabitants 
of the German Tyrol are passionately fond of liberty, and retain unalloyed much of 
the sturdiness, frankness, and simplicity of the old Germanic race. They are nearly 
all proprietors, and cultivate their own lands, and have thus a feeling of indepen- 
dence superior to what the mere hired laborer can experience. They preserve a na- 
tional dress, primitive usages, and early hours. The inhabitants of the Lower or 
Italian Tyrol, on the other hand, are more patient of the Austrian yoke that weighs 
on the whole country ; they for the most part cultivate the lands of others, and have 
been far less retentive of ancient manners and usages. Luxurious habits, late hours, 
&c., have crept into the larger of their towns ; and their character, in general, has 
more of the suppleness and complaisance of the Italians than of the sturdiness and 
roughness of the Germans. A very considerable portion of the judges, commissa- 
ries of police, and civil employees of the emperor of Austria, in Milan, and other 
Veneto-Lombard cities, are natives of Lower Tyrol, and are distinguished by their 
unscrupulousness and subserviency to their employer. 

The valley of the river Inn, which runs through the whole northern portion of the 
country, may be called the principal part of Upper or German Tyrol. It is entirely 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE— TYROL. 



475 




476 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

shut out from the Lower or Italian Tyrol by a lofty chain of mountains, the only 
road over which is by Mount Brenner, at an elevation of six thousand feet above the 
level of the sea. This valley of the Inn, counting its twistings and turnings, is 
nearly a hundred miles long, but its greatest breadth is not much above eight miles, 
while in many parts, and for considerable distances, it is not above two or three 
miles broad. Innspruck, the capital city, a view of which is given in our engraving 
on the previous page, is situated about midway in this valley. 

The main territory of the Lower or Italian Tyrol is comprised in the valleys of 
the Eisach and the Adige, on which rivers the principal towns of this southern 
division, as Botzen, Lavis, Trent (the capital), and Roveredo, are situated. Not- 
withstanding its forests, lakes, rocks, glaciers, and mountains, covered with per- 
petual snow, the Tyrol is a tolerably v/ell-peopled country. Riesbeck says, that in 
his time (1780) it contained, altogether, about 600,000 souls, and annually paid to 
the Austrian government about 3,000,000 florins (about $1,500,000). The silver 
and copper works at Schawtz, in the Upper Tyrol, were among the most profitable 
things in the emperor's hereditary dominions ; and the salt-works at Halle, in the 
same division of the country, yielded annually about 300,000 florins. He states the 
population of Innspruck, which he calls a fine city, at 14,000 souls. 

In 1830, M. Mercey, who seems to have taken some pains in composing his statis- 
tical tables, gives 620,000 souls as the amount of the whole population of the Tyrol, 
being an increase of only 20,000 in half a century. But in the interval between 
1780 and 1830, the country has been desolated by war, and the Tyroleans, like the 
Swiss and Savoyards, are much given to emigration. 

The stationary population of the city of Innspruck, independent of the garrison, 
does not at present exceed 12,000. But, though small, this metropolis of the Tyrol 
is a beautiful town, and contains many objects of great interest. The most remark- 
able of all these objects is the tomb or mausoleum of Maximilian I., in the cathe- 
dral-church of the Holy Cross. This vast monument, with its accessories, occupies 
a considerable part of the nave of the church. A tomb or sarcophagus of white and 
black marble, six feet high, and thirteen feet in length, surmounted by a bronze 
statue of the emperor kneeling, and with the face turned toWard the altar, stands in 
the midst of other dependent works of sculpture. The sarcophagus is partially 
inscribed with letters of gold, on a black marble ground ; but the beauty of the work 
mainly lies in the basso-relievoes which cover the sides of the monument, and are 
Sculptured in the finest Carrara marble, each compartment or tablet being divided 
from the other by a pilaster of jet black marble. There are in all twenty-four 
tablets, which represent the principal events of Maximilian's life, such as his mar- 
riage at Ghent with the daughter of Charles the Rash, duke of Burgundy — his 
coronation, as king of the Romans, at Aix-la-Chapelle — his combat with the Vene- 
tians — his defeat of the Turks, in Croatia — his sieges, marches, and treaties of 
alliance. 

Around this magnificent tomb stand, as if to keep guard over the dust of the 
deceased monarch, 'twenty-eight statues, in bronze, of kings, queens, princes, prin- 
cesses, and stalwart warriors clad in armor. These statues surpass the dimensions 
of common mortality, being nearly eight feet high. They represent or typify (for 
some of them must be wholly imaginary as portraits) the beings of Maximilian's 
admiration or aff'ection. Among them are Clovis the First, king of France ; Theod- 
oric, king of the Ostrogoths ; King Arthur, of England ; the crusader Godfrey of 
Bouillon, king of Jerusalem ; several of the early counts of Hapsburg, the ancestors 
of Maximilian, and of the now reigning emperors of Austria ; Mary of Burgundy, 
the first wife of Maximilian ; the archduchess Margaret, his daughter ; Joanna, 
spouse of Philip I. of Spain, and Leonora, princess of Portugal. 

All who have visited this remarkable tomb, particularly in the gloom and silence 
of evening, agree in describing the eff"ect produced by these figures as being most 
striking and solemn. When the mind is satisfied with the first impression, and the 
effect of the tout-ensemble, or united whole, of the works, it may derive pleasure 
and instruction from an examination of the details ; for the costumes of warriors 
covered from head to foot with plate-armor — of princes with their crowns and royal 
mantles — and ladies in their court-dresses — are exceedingly curious, rich, and varied. 

The tablets in low relief, on the sides of the monument are not only curious, but 
beautiful as works of art. The numerous figures are all represented in their appro- 
priate costumes, and are well grouped, while the views of cities and castles are 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— TYROL. 



4r7 




478 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

given with remarkable felicity, being real landscapes in marble. With the excep- 
tion of four by an inferior hand, all these tablets are said to have been executed by 
Alexander Colin, a native of Malines, a city in Belgium, who completed the work 
somewhere about the middle of the sixteenth century. M. Mercey says, somWhat 
doubtingly, that the gigantic bronze figures which stand round the tomb were cast 
by Louis Duca, a Dutch workman, in the sixteenth century. According to Mr. 
Inglis, one of them (the statue of Theodoric) is marked with the date of 1513. A 
popular tradition asserts that the emperor Maximilian himself conceived the first 
idea of this grand monument, and shortly before his death, designated the place his 
own statue should occupy in the group. Besides the imperial mausoleum, the church 
of the Holy Cross at Innspruck contains twenty-three statues, in bronze, of catholic 
saints, one in pure silver, of the Virgin Mary, several fine monuments in marble, and 
the tomb of the Tyrolean patriot, Andrew Hofer, to whom a statue has been erected 
of pure white Carrara marble. It is eight feet high, and it stands on an upright 
block of white marble, about eight feet high, adding much to the effect produced on 
a visiter to this mausoleum. 

To make the story of Hofer intelligible, we must briefly trace a few of the events 
and circumstances of his native country. The ancient house of Hapsburg, which 
had its cradle in the neighboring mountains of Switzerland, and whose chiefs eventu- 
ally became dukes of Austria and emperors of Germany, obtained possession of the 
Tyrol in the fourteenth century, in part by marriage with a native princess in whom 
the succession rested, and in part by war and purchase ; the duke of Austria, after a 
fierce contest, paying a large sum to the duke of Bavaria for the relinquishment of 
his claims on the country. From that time until the year 1805, the Tyrol remained 
a dependency of the Hapsburg or Austrian family, who treated it with the mildness 
it has always used toward its hereditary states, and left it, moreover, in the enjoy- 
ment of all its ancient privileges, its diet, and other sufficiently liberal institutions. 
After the rapid campaign of 1805, when Bonaparte so shook the power of Austria, 
that it was thought it could never again revive, he insisted, as a condition of peace, 
that the Tyrol should be ceded to his ally, the king of Bavaria, and the emperor 
Francis was compelled to make this sacrifice in the treaty of Presburg. This sudden 
transfer was made without the consent of the diet, and in direct opposition to the will 
of the Tyrolean people, who could ill tolerate the idea of being turned over from one 
master to another, like a flock of sheep, and who had also old grounds of pique and 
antipathy to the Bavarians, who had thus become their rulers. The king of Bava- 
ria, indeed, solemnly guarantied to them all their ancient rights, privileges, and 
usages, but the guaranty was only good on paper, and nothing in practice ; for their 
representative states were suppressed, the public funds and savings arbitrarily seized, 
ecclesiastical properties suddenly confiscated, and new taxes levied. At the same 
time the prejudices, and also the right feelings and notions of the peasantry, who are 
strong in many domestic virtues, were frequently insulted by the French and Bava- 
rian soldiery. A bold, hardy, and proud race of mountaineers was not likely to sub- 
mit to such wrongs. Discontent, and then hatred and revenge, spread rapidly on all 
sides, and an insurrection, favored underhandedly by Austria, was gradually organized. 
In 1809, when Bonaparte was again in the field against the emperor Francis, the 
Tyroleans rose almost to a man in Bonaparte's rear, opened communications with 
the archduke John of Austria, who had descended with a formidable army into the 
neighboring plains of Lombardy, and effected a powerful diversion in favor of the 
Austrian cause, being themselves firmly resolved to drive the Bavarians out of their 
country. 

Andrew Hofer, who was living in his native village, in the valley of Passeyer, and 
in the little inn his father had left him, was one of the first to take up arms, and his 
example and encouragement, added to those of his friends Speckbacher and Haspin- 
ger, had a wonderful effect on the peasantry. 

Hofer, who was then about forty-two years of age, was a man of irreproachable 
morals, and of more talent and education than were commonly found among his com- 
panions. He was gifted with a kind of rural eloquence, and his well-known bravery, 
his fortitude, and his commanding personal appearance, all combined to make him 
the chief of an essentially-popular insurrection. His attachment to the superstitions 
of the catholic church, and occasionally to the bottle, only rendered him the dearer 
to a people who were all superstitious and generally rather fond of wine. It is re- 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— TYROL. 479 

ported of him, that he at times led the peasants to victory with a rosary and crucifix 
on his breast, a sabre in one hand, and a bottle in the other. 

Three means were resorted to in order to advise the mountaineers of the proper 
moment of rising in mass : sawdust was thrown on the rivers Inn and Eisach, which 
carried the signal along in their rapid course ; fires were lighted on the tops of mount- 
ains and on the ruins of the old castles ; and women and children ran from rock to 
rock, from glen to glen, from cottage to cottage, saying, " It is time !" 

Hofer struck the first blow. He signally defeated the Bavarian troops in the val- 
ley of the Eisach, where, between killed, wounded, and prisoners, they lost 900 men. 
On the same day, his friend Speckbacher drove the Bavarians out of the important 
town of Halle ; and shortly afterward, 20,000 peasants took Innspruck, the capital, 
in spite of the obstinate defence of General Kinkel and Colonel Dittfurt, who dispu- 
ted every inch of ground. Dittfurt, when dying of his wounds, asked what distin- 
guished officer had led them on so well to battle. " No one," said the Tyroleans ; 
" but we fought for our religion, the emperor, and our father-land !" 

We can not enter into the details of the numerous battles and skirmishes in which, 
though ill-supported by the Austrians, Hofer and his companions Avere long victori- 
ous. The loss of the Bavarians — attacked on all sides, in narrow valleys and deep 
chasms, from dense woods and overhanging rocks — was terrible ; but the brave peas- 
ants were guilty of no unnecessary cruelty. M. Mercey, a Frenchman, says : " They 
only killed those who resisted. ' Cut me down those fellows as long as they stand 
up against you,' cried Hofer ; ' but once down, give them quarter ! Only a coward 
strikes a man that is on the ground, because he is afraid he should get up again.' 
This was the Spanish insurrection, with its monks, its peasants, and its guerillas; 
but it was the Spanish insurrection without its crimes and its horrors ; and if there 
was inhumanity on one side, it was certainly not on that of the Tyroleans. They at 
least did not murder their prisoners after the battle. Hofer, when a conqueror, spared 
the lives of his opponents ; but, when conquered, his own life was not spared." 

The feeble and dispirited battalions of Austrian troops sent to co-operate with Ho- 
fer did almost more harm than good, and Chasteler, their general, soon beat a retreat. 
After some successes obtained in the north of Italy by the archduke John, the tide of 
fortune turned ; the French were successful everywhere, and a second time took Vi- 
enna, the capital of the Austrian empire. Marshal Lefevre entered the Tyrol with 
a strong French and Bavarian army by the valley of the Inn, and Generals Rusca 
and D'Hilliers began to penetrate on the other side by the valley of the Adige. It 
was expected that, at the appearance of these fine armies, the undisciplined Tyro- 
leans, who were unprovided with artillery and most of the materiel of regular war- 
fare, would at once lay down their arms and submit to the Bavaro-French govern- 
ment ; but, though almost entirely left to their own resources, Hofer and his comrades 
did not so understand it. They rallied in their mountains, and, descending rapidly 
from the Iselberg, defeated the Bavarians, who had 9,000 men and twenty-five pieces 
of artillery. They thoroughly beat back a body of French and Saxon troops in the 
valley of the Eisach ; and when the duke of Dantzic attempted to force a narrow 
gorge near to Stertzing, they destroyed nearly the whole of his vanguard, which con- 
sisted of 4,000 picked Bavarians. In performing this last exploit they did not con- 
sume much gunpowder, for their unerring rifles were only used when the invading 
army was thrown into confusion, and the work almost done. They kept possession 
of the perpendicular rocks which rose like walls on either side of the pass, and, hav- 
ing brought immense stones, trunks, and arms of trees, to the very edges of the preci- 
pices, they kept them suspended there in large masses by means of ropes, until the 
enemy was engaged in the narrow gorge, and fairly beneath them. Then a voice 
was heard, saying, " Hans, is everything ready ?" — " Yes !" was shouted among the 
rocks. On which the word of command was given, " In the name of the Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost, let go your ropes !" The next moment more than a thousand 
of the Bavarians were crushed, smashed, and buried, under a frightful mass of trees, 
stones, and rocks. Then the sure rifles of the peasants flashed from every corner, 
and the duke of Dantzic was forced to flee, abandoning his cannon and nearly all his 
baggage to the Tyroleans. Nearly at the same time, the forces which had at- 
tempted to penetrate by the valley of the Adige were routed with tremendous loss. 
A few days afterward Hofer followed up the duke of Dantzic, who had concentrated 
all his forces, and beat him in a pitched battle. The result of this gallant engage- 
ment was the immediate evacuation of the Tyrol by the Bavaro-French armie% and 



480 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



the establishment of a provisional government, of which Hofer took the direction ; 
for the court of Austria v?as too much embarrassed to attend to the affairs of the 
country. 

Had the regular armies of Austria done their part of the great work but half as 
well as the peasants of the Tyrol did theirs, the career of Bonaparte might have been 
ended in 1809, instead of 1815, and six years of war and bloodshed spared the world. 
But, as we have already said, after a good beginning they failed everywhere. On 
the 6th of July they lost the decisive battle of Wagram, on the 12th they entered 
into a most humiliating armistice, and on the 14th of August the late emperor Fran- 
cis signed the disgraceful treaty of Vienna, by which the brave Tyroleans were again 
formally given over to the Bavarians. 

Although they knew that the whole might of Bonaparte could now be turned 
against them, and although the emperor Francis, on one side, recommended them to 
submit, and Beauharnois, the French viceroy of Italy, on the other, proclaimed that 
such as continued the war should no longer be treated as soldiers, but as rebels and 
brigands, Hofer and many of his comrades determined to make one effort more for 
their independence. They defeated the French in the valley of the Passeyer (Hofer's 
native valley), and killed, wounded, or took prisoners, upward of 2,000 men. But 
the contest was too unequal, and this was the last of their successes. They were 
hunted from post to post, from rock to rock ; they were obliged to conceal themselves, 
like wild beasts, in the depths of their forests, in their remote caverns, or on the tops 
of their mountains, and this during all the rigor of winter. Some laid down their 




A Tyrolese Peasant. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— TYROL. 481 

arms, some escaped into Austria, more were taken prisoners by the French, who 
kept their word, and shot them like brigands, and at last Hofer was left almost 
alone. 

From the beginning of December, 1809, to about the middieof January, 1810, this 
remarkable man, on whose head the French had put an enormous price, lay con- 
cealed in a small hut, situated in a rocky hollow, near the summit of one of the lofti- 
est mountains of the Tyrol. But, besides his family, a friend and former confidant 
knew the place of his retreat, and had the baseness to betray him. This villain was 
a priest ; his name (may it be for ever execrated !) was Donay. In the darkness of 
night he led a strong detachment to the spot, and the hut was surrounded. Kofer's 
fortitude did not quail at this awful moment. He presented his breast to a company 
of grenadiers, saying, " I am Andrew Hofer ! Frenchmen, fire ! kill me at once ; but 
save my wife and children !" The soldiers rushed upon him, and, loading him with 
chains, carried him down to Meran, where he was joined by his family, consisting 
of his wife, a son about twelve years old, and a daughter. From Meran he was 
marched to Botzen, and thence he was seat, under a strong escort, to the fortress of 
Mantua, which was already crowded with his unfortunate countrymen. The only 
tears he was seen to shed was when they forcibly separated his wife and children 
from him at Botzen. 

A French court-martial, presided over by General Bisson, was soon assembled. 
The injustice of the case — the heroic bravery and humanity of the prisoner — pleaded 
strongly in his favor ; and it is due to the French officers to state, that the majority 
of them were for a sentence of limited confinement, and that two of them had evea 
the courage to vote for a full acquittal. But as far as justice and mercy were con- 
cerned, these tribunals were mere farces. The doom of Hofer was signed by a higher 
hand, and the commands from Paris, conveyed from Milan to Mantua by telegraph, 
were, that Hofer should be condemned and shot within twenty-four hours. He died 
as he had lived, a brave and religious man. The following remark by M. Mercey 
is characteristic of his nation, but contains a fact rather honorable to it : " They killed 
him out of obedience. After his death, however, they rendered him the same'honors 
that are paid to a general officer ; and the body of the Tyrolean patriot was carried 
to its last home on the shoulders of French grenadiers." 

The emperor of Austria, who could hardly do less, assigned a pension to his fami- 
ly ; and in 1823, he ordered that the remains of Hofer should be brought from Man- 
tua to Innspruck, and there interred in the cathedral-church of the Holy Cross. On 
the 22d of February six of the patriot's companions in arms entered the metropolitan 
church bearing the coffin, upon which lay the broad-brimmed peasant's hat and the 
sword of the hero. An immense concourse of Tyroleans followed to the tomb, over 
which the Austrians have erected the monument, carved in Carrara marble, before 
spoken of. 

The valley of Meran, through which the rapid river Adige descends, is celebrated by 
all travellers in the Tyrol, as presenting some of the most picturesque and romantic 
of scenes. It is the principal of the lateral valleys of the country ; but being little fre- 
quented by strangers, it is as delightful for the primitiveness of manners and appear- 
ance of its inhabitants, as it is for the beauty of its scenery and the number of its cas- 
tles and towers which crown almost every insulated eminence. On entering this 
valley on the Italian side, and going by Botzen, or Bolsano, the tourist has to find his 
way through a perfect labyrinth of streams formed by the Adige which divides itself 
into many separate channels, and not unfrequently overflows them all. But about 
four miles above Botzen the ground rises, the valley improves, and near to the old 
straggling town of Meran it puts on all its beauty. At that point it seems to termi- 
nate, for the mountains, closing in on all sides, leave no visible passage for either the 
river or the road. A sudden turn, however, opens both, and the traveller goes on 
through a luxuriant and highly-cultivated country, until the encircling mountains 
again close in, and puzzle him as to how his future route can lie. Near to the town 
of Meran the arrow-like Passeyer falls into the Adige, and some twelve miles up the 
valley of the Passeyer stands the simple but much-honored house of Hofer. Villages, 
hamlets, cottages, and mills, are thickly scattered through nearly the whole of the 
Meran district, and pure, sparkling rivulets, in some beautiful places forming cas- 
cades, and everywhere imparting verdure and coolness, tumble from the mountains 
and the hills to join the roaring Adige. These numerous rivulets and brooks form a 
distinguishing character in the scenery, and the Tyrolean peasants, who have a 



482 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

great mechanical ingenuity, avail themselves of them for a variety of purposes, be- 
sides those of irrigation, uniting and conducting their narrow threads into one good 
water-course, which may drive a sawing-rnill, or a flour-mill, or otherwise econo- 
mize labor, by a cheap and never-failing water-power. 

Mr. Rohrer, a German traveller, who wrote an account of the Tyrol about fifry 
years ago, says that on going one day into a peasant's cottage, he saw nobody there 
but a child in a cradle, and that to his great surprise the cradle kept rocking just as 
if the mother or some other member of the family were there to rock it. In seeking 
for the cause of this regular and constant movement, he found that a cord was fas- 
tened to the cradle — that this cord went through a hole in the wall of the cottage, 
and was carried to a shaft which was set in motion by a wheel that was turned by a 
little streamlet. 

Another distinguishing feature of the scenery of the valley of Meran arises out of 
the singularly picturesque manner in which the peasants arrange their vines, carry- 
ing them on trellises over the high-road, as represented in our engraving, and at 
times continuing this most refreshing and poetical canopy of I'ruit and leaves for very 
considerable distances. Mr. Inglis says that, on leaving the town of Meran, a great 
part of the road lay under a lovely vine-bower of this kind, the plants being trained 
overhead, and only here and there admitting glimpses of the blue sky. The Count 
de Bray, a French gentleman, who states that he made six tours in the Tyrol, and 
each tour with an increase of enjoyment, compares these shady, close avenues to tun- 
nels, and adds (what will readily be believed) that nothing can well be more pleas- 
ant than travelling through them during the glare and heat of summer. Near the 
villages they are always kept very neatly ; and here, after the toils of the day, the 
old repose, and the young people take their evening walk. 

In the most romantic part of this valley, about three miles above the town of Me- 
ran, there is a rugged, singularly-shaped gray rock, which is crowned by the ruins 
of an old castle — the far-famed castle of Tyrol (Tenolis), from which, curiously 
enough, the whole country is said to have derived its name. This is an object of 
great veneration to the peasants, who never approach it but with uncovered heads — 
who consider it as the palladium of their nationality and independence — and who 
regard its desecration by the French and Bavarians, during the last war, as one of 
the most intolerable of the evils of foreign conquest. "When the country was ceded 
to them, the Bavarians, after partially razing its walls, sold the old castle to a peas- 
ant for two thousand florins (about five hundred dollars) ; but in 1814, the people of 
Meran bought it, and made a present of it to their restored sovereign, the emperor 
of Austria, to whose remote ancestors it belonged. It is now a curious mixture of 
old and new buildings, having little that is warlike in its appearance, but being dec- 
orated from donjon-keep to sally-port with beautiful cherry-trees that grow up among 
its gray walls. Around it are dark-wooded mountains, rocks, ravines,, and thunder- 
ing cataracts. 

Still ascending the valley of Meran, fields of the broad-leafed, vividly-green Indian 
corn are found to give place to fields of barley, and these, in their turn, are succeeded 
by open pasture-land. The traveller then finds himself in a truly pastoral and primi- 
tive country, where the rocks continually echo with the lowing of herds and the 
bleating of flocks, mingled with the sound of running waters. 

M. de Bray was particularly struck with the familiarity and amiability of the cat- 
tle. In these elevated, salubrious regions, there are no gad-flies or other tormenting 
insects, the passers-by are few, and almost invariably shepherds, who always carry 
about them a little salt, or a species of powder composed of dried aromatic herbs, 
of which the cows are very fond. Accordingly, as soon as they see a human being, 
they gently approach him, expecting a little regale or present, and will put their 
fragrant lips to his pocket or into his hand to seek for it. 

Every year these shepherds of the Tyrol send a part of their family on a migratory 
expedition, which is chiefly directed into Suabia, where they find employment in 
tending sheep and cattle. Troops of boys are placed under the guidance of steady 
old men, each troop having one Nestor who leads them the right road, and takes 
care of their interest and conduct. Every boy carries a pastoral pipe and knapsack, 
with a small provision of oaten bread, and they generally cross their mountains in 
large companies. During the summer months they live scattered over the wide 
pasture-lands of Suabia, and, in spite of solitude and the coarsest nourishment, they 
are said to be very cheerful and always honest. Toward the end of autumn the 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— TYROL. 



483 




484 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

same old men conduct them back to their huts in the mountains of the Tyrol, ?nd 
happy is the boy who can carry with him some three or four dollars as the savings 
out of his summer gains. Some of these humble, laborious individuals have shown 
great intelligence, and even genius. Peter Anick, who was a common shepherd, 
made himself a first-rate geographer, and constructed a globe of extraordinary per- 
fection, which is carefully preserved in Innspruck castle. Peter also drew up a map 
of the Tyrol, which is said lo be the best as yel in existence. 

All through the valley of Meran, in addition to the many beauiiful species which 
grow wild, flowers are diligently cultivated, and most of the peasants' houses have 
pots or boxes of blooming pinks and carnations on their window-soles. At the upper 
part of this lovely valley, the river Adige presents a magnificent spectacle, running 
for .nearly a mile over a shelving series of rocks as a cataract, or at least as a glori- 
ous rapid. Some travellers say that these falls are far superior to the celebrated 
falls of SchafFhausen, and that there is nothing of the sort in Switzerland that can 
stand a comparison with them. Quiet, green, pastoral banks fringe on either side 
this fearful torrent and vast sheet of foam. 

The river Salza, or Salzach, rises in the mountains of the Tyrol ; but it is in Aus- 
tria proper that it runs the greater part of its course, at first pursuing a westerly 
direction, parallel with the Noric Alps, and then flowing northward, at no great dis- 
tance from the Bavarian frontier, until it joins the river Inn, which forms the north- 
eastern boundary of Bavaria. 

The tourist who is already familiar with Switzerland would find much to delight 
and interest him, if, after lingering some time in the Tyrol, he were to track the 
Salza from its source on Mount Brenner to its junction with the Inn, especially as 
this is not a beaten track with tourists. The valleys of the Tyrol are more extensive 
and magnificent than those of Switzerland— seventy or eighty miles long, and some- 
times eight to ten broad. The memorials of another age are there more frequently 
mingled with the beauties of natural scenery than in Switzerland, where castles and 
ruins are seldom observed. In Switzerland the sublime is oftener excited ; but Mr. 
Inglis, one of the most recent travellers in the Tyrol, doubts whether, in the latter 
country, the love of the beautiful and the picturesque is not more frequently gratified. 

The valley of the Salza is extensive, and the river is rendered impetuous by pas- 
sing alternately through ravines and mountain-defiles. The climate near the source- 
is severe, and the snow lies there for several months in the year. About June the 
heat becomes very great, and the sirocco occasionally penetrates even to these re- 
gions : but it seldom lasts more than a few hours, and though sensibly felt, its effects 
are greatly lessened, and its power is chiefly shown in melting the snows and caus- 
ing a sudden flood. The Salza begins to be navigable at Hallein, about twenty miles 
above the Inn. At five miles from its junction it passes by Salzburg, celebrated for 
its salt-works. The waterfall of Golling is in the upper part of its course, a few 
miles from Hallein, near a mountain which rises two thousand five hundred and sev- 
enty-two feet above the level of the sea. Notwithstanding its grandeur, and the 
bold and romantic scenery which surrounds it, it is comparatively little known, owing 
to its not lying in the usual path of tourists. The stream, as is shown in our rep- 
resentation, has perforated the rock in its descent, and falls in a sort of curtain over 
the lower part of it into the channel at the foot. The annexed view was taken on 
the spot. 

Castles romantically situated occur very frequently among the mountains of the 
Tyrol, and, being mostly in ruins and overgrown with ivy, they form one of the most 
picturesque features of scenery which is almost everywhere picturesque or striking. 
The view which will be found on page 487 represents Castel-Val, or the Valley 
Castle, which travellers admire as a fine specimen of these hoary mountain-fort- 
resses. It stands on a lofty overhanging rock, in the upper part of the beauttful 
valley of Meran, which we have already described. We find nothing particular re- 
lated of it beyond its bold situation and frowning aspect. Its history is probably in 
the main just the same as that of most of these edifices : at first the stronghold of a 
feudal baron who lived and died in it ; then, on the decline of the feudal system and 
the extensioii of the royal power, a garrison held for the sovereign of the country, or 
occupied merely as a dwelling-house by its titled owner ; then, as the war advanced, 
and artillery, bombs, and shells, rendered many a place, though built on a mountain- 
rock, as weak as if it had been erected on a plain, it was abandoned as a military 
^position ; and then, as the whole state of society changed, and the nobility took up 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— TYROL. 



485 




WaterfaU of Golling. 



486 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

their permanent abode in courts and cities, and felt a taste for more commodious and 
luxurious domestic arrangements than the interior of most of these rude hill-fortres- 
ses could afford, the castle finally was altogether abandoned, ceasing even to be an 
occasional country-residence to. its owners, and time and the tempest doing their 
Avork, it generally became, in the course of a century or two, a complete ruin, where 
the bat flitted and the owl roosted. 

It was the same story everjrwhere. In England, where the increase of population 
and cultivation was so rapid, and subject to so few checks, the immense majority of 
these feudal castles wholly disappeared from the face of the earth : the walls were 
knocked down, the best of their materials being used in building farmhouses and cot- 
tages, and the plough passed over their foundations from barbacan to donjon-keep. 
But -in poorer and thinly-peopled mountainous countries, where the materials were 
not wanted, and the ground would be of tio use, the towers and battlements were 
rarely molested by the hand of man ; and in many parts of Europe they still frown 
" along the steep" in numbers almost incredible. In the Tyrol, in Savoy, in many 
parts of SAvitzerland, in all the passes leading into Italy, in the valley of Piedmont, 
along the whole Apennine chain, and every mountainous district in the Italian pen- 
insula, these ruins of the middle ages abound — a positive fact which upsets a pretty 
sentiment of Madame de Stael, who said that this classical land would only retain 
traces of the classical ages, and rejected from her bosom the gloomier relics of bar- 
barism and feudality. 

In our preceding pages we have said something of the character and habits of the 
Tyroleans, and we will now add a few more traits and circumstances, the better to 
enable the reader to form a notion of this very interesting people. The martial na- 
ture of the accompanying illustration (view of Castel-Val) suggests that we should 
in the first place speak of the military qualities of the Tyroleans : we shall, however, 
be very brief. Like most mountaineers, they have been distinguished by their brave- 
ry in actual service, but they have at all times evinced even more than the usual dis- 
like of mountaineers for the rigor and routine of military discipline. The Austrian 
system, with its stiff, unbending rules and interminable details, tends probably more 
than any other to convert the soldier into a mere machine; but, though constantly 
acting with the imperial troops, and loyal beyond measure to the emperor, the Ty- 
roleans not only never would "submit to be made machines of, but they persisted 
in maintaining their own loose and light system of discipline, and in being com- 
manded by officers of their own nation, who for the most part associated freely 
with their men, and were endeared to them by old ties and old acquaintanceship. 
They, moreover, would enter the army and serve only as volunteers, stating (what 
was true enough) that whenever an enemy set foot on their soil, or their emperor 
stood in need of their service, they were always ready to take up their rifles, and 
march without any impressment or compulsion. In 1785, the emperor Joseph en- 
deavored to subject them to regular forced levies for the military service, and to the 
same discipline as the rest of the armj^ but after exciting a great deal of dissatisfac- 
tion and disgust, he was obliged to give up these projects. It was probably the odi- 
ous conscription introduced by the French and their dependants the Bavarians, that 
contributed more than anything else to make the Tyroleans rise almost to a man 
against the tyranny of Napoleon. In a country like theirs, abounding with chamois 
and other game, nearly every peasant contrives to buy a rifle and becomes a sports- 
man ; and then, for many ages, one of their national sports and their favorite amuse- 
ment has been, to meet in parties for rifle-exercise, and to rival each other in address 
at firing at the mark. These games are, or at least were, much more common 
among them than ever were games of cricket among the English peasantry, and ev- 
ery village of the Tyrol boasted one or two dexterous youths (the pride and glory of 
the place) who could do wonders with their rifles. This arm, and their system of 
fighting, did very well in their own country and a mountain warfare ; but though 
they laugh at the unfortunate tactics of the Austrians, who lost most of their great 
battles according to rule, it may be questioned whether the Tyroleans could have 
done much beyond their frontiers, if left unsupported by a more regular army or 
organized system. 

M. Mercey gives one of their epigrams, of which the sense is — " To gain a victory, 
say the Austrians, without tactics, is mere hazard and luck. Agreed ! but we would 
rather beat our enemy without tactics, than be beaten with them." As a compo- 
nent part of an army, and that, too, a most important part, no men are superior to 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— TYROL. 



487 




488 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

the Tyroleans, who have every quality proper to light infantry and tirailleurs (sharp- 
shooters). Even in the most disastrous campaigns, their activity, boldness, and 
quickness of resource, have commanded the approbation of all parties. We never 
saw merrier and lighter-headed soldiers than some of these rifle-brigades that were 
employed in Italy a few years ago. They were nearly all young men, who had vol- 
untarily engaged for a determinate number of years, and who carried their national 
habits and amusements, and almost their country's costume, into the very midst of 
the severity and rigmarole of an Austrian army. On certain fixed days, and on ev- 
ery saint's day or holyday, these men used to be exercised at firing at the target. 
The officers took the rifle as well as the common soldiers, und the surgeon and as- 
sistant-surgeon, nay, even the chaplain of the corps, generally joined like true Tyro- 
leans in this contest of skill, which, for the time being, seemed to bring about a 
perfect equalization of rank and dignity. An odd farcical fellow, the Merry-Andrew 
of his corps, used to lake his stand near the target, and, every time that a good shot 
was made, he gave a shout of applause, but every time that a v/ant of dexterity and 
steady aim was shown — no matter whether by man or officer — he made all kinds 
of grimaces and antics to deride the failure. The whole thing used to look more 
like an amusement than the performance of a military duty, but in this way the 
young men acquired or kept up an extraordinary degree of perfection in their par- 
ticular mystery. 

We have already mentioned the pastoral migrations of the poor peasantry. But 
the Tyroleans do not migrate merely as soldiers and shepherds, but become great 
travellers as venders of toys and small articles of furniture and cabinet-making, which 
are manufactured at home, and as retailers of simple medicines and nostrums that 
are made out of the herbs, roots, and flowers, that grow on their own mountains 
and in their native valleys. They generally call these simple decoctions " teas." 
Thus they have, for example, a "tea for coughs and catarrhs;" "a tea for pains of 
the chest ;" another tea, sovereign as a remedy for the bile, and so on through the 
cases of fever, rheumatism, sprained ankles, &c. Some of these simples are far 
from being contemptible as medicines, but the mischief is, the ignorant too often use 
them as universal cures. They also carry on d. foreign trade in coarse leather-gloves, 
and the Tj^oleans contrive to get a share in the business of the people of the north 
of Italy as builders and plasterers. 

On passing through the valley of the Salza, which is surrounded by some of the 
richest Alpine pasturages, are met numerous herds of cattle descending from their 
summer pastures in the mountains. The herdsmen are laden with the pails, churns, 
and other utensils used in the making of the cheese in the mountains ; and here and 
there are seen happy groups — wives and children coming out to greet them after 
their long sojourn in the Alps. The accompanying engraving represents a party who 
have just reached their native village after an absence of three months, each heavily 
laden with the produce of the summer pasturage. 

In all the Alpine ranges of Switzerland, the Tyrol, and Italy, on the approach of 
summer the peasants lead their herds up to the pasturages on the mountains. These, 
from their height, are uninhabitable during the winter and early spring months. 
They are resorted to at different seasons, according to their heights; and some of 
them, placed at an elevation of six or seven thousand feet above the level of 
the sea, afford food for the cattle but for a short period, the covering of snow not 
disappearing till June, and winter closing in at the end of August, or beginning of 
September. In these Alpine heights are built log-huts, called chalets, in which the 
herdsmen and their cattle are sheltered. In some parts of the higher Alps the 
peasants remain during the whole season, without returning more than twice or 
thrice to fetch up a scanty supply of meal, the remainder of their food being the 
milk of the cattle and the cheese made in the chalets. As the higher grounds are 
only accessible by steep and winding footpaths, the few articles of food, and the 
churn and pails necessary for the preparation of the cheese, are carried up on the 
backs of the herdsmen, who thus pass their time with their cattle in entire solitude. 
Sometimes a single man has the charge of ten or fifteen cows, and remains for ten 
or twelve weeks hung up amidst pineforests, rocks, and glaciers of ice, without 
seeing a human being. Their appearance is in general wretched and dull ; and 
when by chance a wandering traveller visits their haunts, they will follow him foi 
miles, in order to exchange with him a few words of conversation. On the approach 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— TYROL. 



489 




490 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

of winter, they return with the cattle and the stock of cheese that has been made 
in the mountains. 

The following extract from M. Simond's " Travels in Switzerland," describes one 
of these mountain chalets ; but those in the higher mountains are far more dreary, 
and possess even less of comfort and convenience : — 

*' The higher ridge of the Scheideck, when we passed it, was crowded with cattle, 
assembled there for miles to avoid the flies, which in more sheltered situations tor- 
ment them during the heat of the day. The natural process by which soil is made 
was everywhere observable on the Eselsriicken (Ass's Back), where the uncovered 
edge of the slate is so far decomposed by exposure to weather, that large fragments, 
apparently sound, crumbled into black dust under our feet. This dust, fertilized by 
the cattle, is in some places covered with grass ; in others it is washed away to 
lower grounds, leaving the surface of the slate again exposed to the weather, to be 
further decomposed. 

" Some way beyond this ridge we came to a chalet, which, being occupied by the 
shepherds, afforded more conveniences than our halt of yesterday. Here a fire was 
already blazing in a sort of pit or trench dug around by way of a seat, and a huge 
kettle hung over for the purpose of cheese-making. We had plenty of cream furnish- 
ed us, in which the spoon literally stood on end, a kettle to make coffee, and wooden 
ladles by way of cups. All the utensils were made of maple, of linden, and of a sort 
of odorous pine {penus cembra), by the shepherds themselves, who bestow much time 
on this manufacture. We noticed the portable seat with a single leg, oddly strapped 
to the back of those who milk the cows ; the milk-pails, the milk-hod fastened to 
their shoulders, the measures, the ladles made in the shape of shells, the milk- 
strainer (a tripod funnel full of pine leaves), the vase in which rennet (used to co- 
agulate milk) is preserved, the press, the form, and many other implements of their 
trade, all elegantly shaped, and very clean. 

" The chalet itself was an American log-house of the rudest construction ; the 
roof, composed of clumsy shingles, gave vent to the smoke in the absence of a chim- 
ney ; this roof, projecting eight or ten feet, formed a sort of piazza, called the melk- 
gang, a German word, which, like many others in that language, needs no English 
translation. 

" The bedroom of the shepherds in these summer chalets is a wooden gallery, 
hung up over the melkgang, close to the projecting roof; they go up to it by a ladder, 
and all herd together on a little straw, never changed. The cows come home to be 
milked, attracted from the most distant pastures by a handful of salt, which the 
shepherd draws out of a leathern pouch hanging across his shoulder. The ground 
round the chalet is so broken, poached, and made filthy by treading of cattle, that 
without stepping-stones it would be difficult lo reach the door ; to finish the picture, 
a herd of swine ranges about, waiting for the allotted portion of buttermilk and 
curds." 

All this is, no doubt, very different from Rousseau's charming description of 
a chalet ; but the chalets about Heloise's residence were family dwellings, in- 
habited the whole year round, and such as are found on lower mountains only ; they 
are kept perfectly clean and comfortable, and are in all respects different from those 
on the high Alps, constructed for mere temporary shelters during a few months: no 
women live in the latter. The engraving on the opposite page gives a view of the 
interior of a Tyrolese peasant's family abode. 

When the weather is tempestuous, the shepherds, or rather the herdsmen, are 
up all night in the mountains with their cattle, calling to them, as without this pre- 
caution they might take fright, run into dangers, and be lost. A few places of 
shelter, built of logs on the principal pastures, would, it seems, answer the purpose 
better with less trouble. The cattle look very beautiful and active, full of spirit and 
wild sport ; they show much more curiosity and intelligence than the rest of their 
kind, and often follow travellers from rocks to rocks a long while, merely to observe 
them. Bulls, notwithstanding the fierceness of their looks, never attack anybody. 
Mr. Ramond, in his notes on Coxe's travels, tells an interesting story concerning 
these animals, which, if it should happen not to be quite true, at least deserves to be 
so. Speaking of their antipathy for bears — " It is impossible," he says, " to restrain a 
bull when he scents a bear in the neighborhood ; he comes up to him, and a running 
fight begins, which often lasts for several days, and till one of the two is killed. In 
a plain the bear has the advantage ; among rocks and trees the bull. (I should have 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— TYROL. 



491 




492 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

thought just the reverse.) Once, in the Canton of Uri, a bull went in pursuit oi a 
bear, and did not return ; after searching for him three successive days, he was found 
motionless, squeezing against a rock his enemy, which had been long dead, was 
quite stiff and cold, and almost crushed to pieces by the pressure; such had been the 
efforts of the bull, that his feet were deep sunk into the ground." 

The Tyrol is one of the least travelled countries of Europe. Wealth alone does 
not suffice, and can not command, a survey of its beauties. The pedestrian will see 
more and enjoy more than he who travels en courier. Picturesque beauty of scenery ; 
primitive, simple, and strongly-defined manners ; these are the great charms for the 
tourist in the Tyrol. One of the most picturesque of its valleys is represented in 
our engraving. This valley forms a channel for the river Non, a tributary of the 
Adige. Thoughdistinguished by two different names, the valley is one and the same 
throughout, the upper part being the Val di Sole, and the lower part the Vai di Non. 
The scenery is at once grand and striking, and the valley is said to resemble a chain 
of mountains and ravines rather than a valley ; but the landscape does not want in- 
teresting objects, castles, villages, and vineyards. It is the resort of many of the 
inhabitants of Trent, who have erected houses to which they retire in the summer. 
The paths leading to it are not practicable at all seasons. Cles, on the right bank 
of the Non, is a small and insignificant village, where silkworms are reared and a 
silk manufactory is carried on. 

The agriculture of the Tyrol does not demand the same laborious pains-taking and 
solicitude as that of Switzerland. The soil is more fruitful. Perseverance and in- 
dustry are proportionally relaxed, as if man needed to be goaded on by an ever- 
pressing necessity. The peasant generally owns the soil which he cultivates. The 
system of spade-husbandry, everywhere practised, at once indicates the absence of 
large farms. In some districts the metayer system is in operation. The production 
of Avheat does not suffice for the actual consumption of the country, and a supply is 
obtained from Trieste and the neighborhood. An immense quantity of fruit is pro- 
duced. The cherries are sometimes as large as a small apricot. The walnuts, 
which grow by the roadside, are also abundant and remarkably fine. The great re- 
source of the cultivator is the crop of Indian corn, which is more depended upon 
than that of wheat. Bread is made of Indian corn and wheat mixed, not as a matter 
of economy but of taste. A peasant proprietor who owns about four acres of tolera- 
ble land will maintain himself in a simple but comfortable manner. One third of 
this quantity of land will be devoted to the growth of Indian corn ; half an acre to 
barley ; rather more than an acre to grass for the cow, and wood for fuel ; and there 
will be a gai"den of a quarter of an acre for cabbages, potatoes, salads, and fruit-trees. 
The wheat is not all consumed ; the surplus is exchanged for coffee, and a few luxu- 
ries. A number of hens are kept, and the eggs are sold at the neighboring market. 
Pigs are fed, and supply the family with flesh meat. The labors of such a farm will 
not require more than two persons, father and son. The wife and daughters spin 
and make the greatest part of the family clothing. The diet of a respectable peasant 
owning about four acres is good and wholesome. Mr. Ingiis has compared with this 
the condition of a small freeholder in England cultivating twelve acres with his own 
hands, and finds the Tyrolese peasant witii four acres is in much more comfortable 
circumstances. He ascribes the advantage to the culture and use of Indian corn by 
the latter : " It is eaten three times a day by all the members of the same family in 
the shape of soup, with milk ; and is ihe bread of the family besides. And with a 
sufficiency of bacon and vegetables, and fresh meat two or three days in the fortnight, 
the Tyrolean peasant family may be said to live comfortable. Coffee is considered 
a luxury, and is only used occasionally." If the same quantity of land were cultiva- 
ted with wheat, the produce would not support an equal number of persons. Per- 
haps the difference in the circumstances of a small cultivator in the Tyrol and in 
England may be traced to another cause. In the Tyrol all the cultivators are of one 
class, and one individual has the same chance as another ; but in England there are 
cultivators on a large scale, who are able to apply to the soil capital and skill with 
greater advantage and economy than the small proprietor ; and hence the cost of 
production is less, on a given quantity of produce, to the large than to the small 
proprietor ; but as both must submit to the same prices in the market, the surplus of 
the smaller proprietor is relatively less. 

It is evident from the circumstances in v/hich the agriculture of the country is 
placed that the Tyrol must send forth its redundant population. The silk manu* 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— TYROL. 



493 







494 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



facture and other branches of industry are not sufficiently extensive to employ in- 
creasing numbers; and though the transit of goods between Italy and Germany 
employs a considerable number of individuals, yet it does not increase to such a de- 
gree as to render necessary any large and sudden addition to the number of those 
who are engaged in it. Hence constant migration and emigration are necessary for 
the welfare and happiness of the country. It is said that between 30,000 and 40,000 
Tyrolese every year leave their country in search of employment. Some merely go 
into the neighboring countries for a certain number of months in each year; but 
others proceed to distant lands, and accumulate a little fortune as pedlars. Some of 
them are to be found wandering around the United States of America ; but deriving 
more emolument, however, from the exercise of their musical talent than from 
any other resource. When their great purpose is accomplished, they never fail 
to return to their own country ; and perhaps in their native valley enjoy the well- 
earned fruits of their industry. There is something pleasing in this attachment, 
which carries a man steadfastly through difficulties, and after some few years brings 
him to the desired object of his wishes. 

The Tyrol being one of the most exclusively mountainous countries in Europe, con- 
taining a smaller relative proportion of open country than Switzerland, it has had a 
great effect upon the character and political fortunes of the inhabitants. The Swiss, 
like them, are mountaineers, but do not possess their noble characteristics ; because 
Switzerland is less impregnable, and is cut up into small divisions, in which a highly- 
wrought spirit of patriotism, tha great source of Tyrolese character, can not be so 
intensely felt. The Tyrolese have presented a spirit of independence though a long 
series of years, for which they are entirely indebted to their geographical position, 
which prevents the approach of conquerors; a handful of men being able to defend 
some of the most important mountain passes against a whole army. The Tyrol is 
an important bulwark of Austria, and the inhabitants may be regarded invaluable 
as a garrison. They are admirably adapted for mountain warfare, but they do not 
make good soldiers, the military discipline being especially irksome to them. They 
can never be so usefully employed as in their own country, and hence it was the 
policy of Austria to exempt them from many of the rigors of the conscription, and 
to employ them in their own country. Altogether there is more liberty enjoyed in 
the Tyrol than in any other part of the Austrian dominions. Innovation has made 
less progress than in any other country. There are no protestants, but all continue 
in the religion of their forefathers. Their patriotism, which is in the first place a 
consequence of their mountain independence, is the preservation of old manners and 
customs. It is only on the frontiers that the true Tyrolese habits have been altered. 
In the neighborhood of Trent, the peasantry are no longer distinguished for the fine 
and noble aspect which characterizes those of the centre and the obscure lateral 
valleys of the Adige and the Inn. 




Child preserved by a Dog. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SWITZERLAND. 495 



CHAPTER XXL— SWITZERLAND. 

This extensive country forms the Swiss or Helvetic confederacy. The northern 
and southern nations of Europe have been singularly intermingled in the ancient 
Helvetia, whose Alpine walls seem like a barrier, separating them from each other. 
The Roman legions, indeed, conquered the Gauls, Rhaetians, and Alemanni, in their 
forests and marshes ; but they could not destroy the northern spirit of freedom. 
Indeed, the traces of its ancient subjugation to Rome are still visible in the Romanic 
language of a part of Switzerland. 

Helvetia, under the Romans, had a flourishing trade, which covered ihe land with 
cities and villages ; and Switzerland still forms the connecting link between northern 
Germany, the Netherlands, and France, on the one side, and Italy on the other. 
Before the fall of the Roman empire in the west, the northern and largest part of 
Switzerland, occupied by the Alemanni, had been conquered by the Franks. On the 
Jura dwelt the Burgundians, and Rhsetia was under the Ostrogoths. Three German 
nations, therefore, freed the country, about A. D. 450, from the dominion of Rome. 
Christianity had already been introduced into Helvetia from Italy, and as early as 
the fourth century there were Christian churches at Geneva, Coire, and other places. 

The Alemanni and Burgundians gave their laws and their habits to the Helvetians, 
and the Alemanni occupied the greater part of the douutry. Each soldier received 
a farm ; a judge, or centgrave, was set over one hundred of these farms (forming a 
cent, or hundred) ; and the place of judgment, where he settled all questions between 
the free citizens, was called Mallus. Several cents formed a Gau (hence Thurgau, 
Aargau, fee), the judge of which was styled count, or graf, and the counts were 
under a duke. The great irruption of barbarians swept through the peaceful valleys 
of the Alps, and Roman civilization disappeared. Ostrogoths, Lombards, and even 
Huns, settled in diflFerent parts of the country. At last, the Franks, who had taken 
possession of the lands of the conquered Alemanni, drove the Ostrogoths over the 
Rhaetian mountains. In 534, they likewise subjected the Burgundians, and all 
Switzerland became a portion of the Frankish empire. The country, however, 
retained its ancient constitution ; the Romans and the old inhabitants were governed 
by Roman, the Alemanni by Alemannic laws ; and each of the other nations by its 
peculiar code. The Christian religion was restored anew, and the desolated fields 
were again brought under cultivation. 

On the partition of the empire of the Franks among the Merovingians, Switzerland 
was divided between two sovereigns — one reigned over Alemannian, and the other 
over Burgundian Switzerland, or Little Burgundy. Pepin reunited the whole coun- 
try, and Charlemagne encouraged the arts and sciences in Helvetia. Under his 
feeble successors the counts became more and more independent of the royal authority, 
and finally made the possession of the Gaus hereditary. One of them (Rodolph) 
established, in 888, the new kingdom of Burgundy, between the Reuss and the 
Jura. Nine years previously, Boso had established the kingdom of Aries, in the ter- 
ritory between the Jura and the Rhone. Thirty years afterward, the two Burgun- 
dian kingdoms were united. The counts in the other parts of Switzerland were 
still nominally subject to the German kings ; but they conducted themselves as 
princes, assumed the same name as their castles, and compelled the free inhabitants 
of their Gaus to acknowledge them as lords. Hence arose a multitude of independ- 
ent and complicated governments, whose chiefs were engaged in continual feuds 
with each other. War was the business of the nobles, and misery the fate of 
the people in the distracted land. The emperor Conrad, therefore, set a duke over 
the counts in Alemannia, in 911. But the emperors of the Saxon house were the 
first Avho compelled the dukes, counts, and bishops, in Switzerland, to respect their 
authority. 

After the death of Rodolph III., the fifth and last king of Burgundy, in 1032, the 
emperor Conrad II. reunited Burgundian Switzerland with Alemannia, which be- 
longed to the German empire. But under Henry IV., grandson of Conrad II., the 
royal authority in Switzerland was again overthrown. Henry, persecuted by the 
pope, sought adherents. He gave to the duke of Zahringen the Alemannic part of 



496 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Switzerland, to which, in 1125, after the conquest of the count of Hochburg and of 
Raynold of Chalons, Conrad of Zahringen added the Burgundian portion. The 
dukes of Zahringen humbled the proud and quarrelsome nobility, but favored Zurich 
and the other imperial cities ; and built several new cities, among which were Fri- 
burg, in 1178, and Berne, in 1191. The country people became more secure; the 
feuds among the nobility less frequent ; manufactures and industry flourished ; Gen- 
eva and Lausanne, among the Romanic, and Zurich and Basle among the German 
cities, became thriving towns. The families of Savoy, Kyburg, and Hapsburg, were 
the most powerful among the noble families. Many nobles went, about this time, to 
Palestine, and thus the country was delivered from their oppression. 

After the death of Berthold V., last duke of Zahringen, in 1218, Alemannia again 
came into the possession of the emperors. His hereditary estates in Uchtland and 
in Little Burgundy passed, by his sister Agnes, to the house of Kyburg. From this 
time, the Hapsburgs in northern Helvetia, and the counts of Savoy in the southwest, 
grew more and more powerful. The emperor appointed some nobleman as gover- 
nor of each city or community, which was not under a count, to collect the public 
revenue, and to punish violations of the public peace ; still, however, private feuds 
continued. The German kings were no longer able to afford protection ; might gave 
right, and the boldest became the mightiest. Several inferior lords, and several 
places, therefore, sought the protection of the houses of Hapsburg or Savoy. 
Zurich, Berne, Basle, and Soleure, the districts, of Uri, Schweitz, and Underwalden, 
gradually acquired the seignturial rights from the emperors, by purchase or by 
grant, and assumed the name of imperial cities or imperial districts. They were 
more prosperous and powerful than the nobility, who lived in their solitary castles, 
at enmity with each other. Even the crusades, by promoting commerce, improved 
the already flourishing condition of the cities, as a part of the troops, arms, pro- 
visions, &c., were transmitted to Italy through the passes of the Alps. The crusa- 
ders brought back new inventions in the arts, new kinds of fruits, &c. The gold, 
and silk manufactures of the Italians and eastern nations were imitated in Switzer- 
land ; refinement took the place of rudeness, and poetry became the favorite amuse- 
ment of the nobles. The cities now formed alliances for their mutual protection 
against the rapacity of the nobles, and demolished many castles from which they 
exercised their oppression upon the peaceful merchants. 

At the end of the thirteenth century, Rodolph of Hapsburg, who, in 1264, had 
inherited the estates of his uncle, Hartmann, count of Kyburg, became more pow- 
erful than the old lords of the soil. As king and emperor of Germany, in 1 273, he 
held a court in Helvetia ; but did not abuse his power to reduce the freemen to vas- 
salage. His ambitious sons, however, Rodolph and Albert, encroached upon the 
rights of the Swiss. Albert, in particular, who succeeded to the imperial dignity in 
1298, by his tyranny and obstinacy, gave rise to the first confederacy of the Swiss 
cantons. 

On the night of November 7, 1307, thirty-three brave countrymen met at Riitli, a 
solitary spot on the lake of Lucerne, and all swore to maintain their ancient inde- 
pendence. The three Walstadte, or Forest-Towns, as these cantons were called, 
having assembled in arms in 1308, deposed the Austrian governors, and destroyed 
the castles built to overawe the country. Henry VII., the successor of Albert on the 
German throne, confirmed to the Forest-Towns the rights of which Albert endeav- 
ored to rob them. But the house of Austria still contended obstinately for its lost 
privileges. The victory of Morgarten, gained by the Forest-Towns in 1315, over 
Leopold of Austria, gave rise to the perpetual league of Brunnen, on December 9th 
of the same year, to which, previous to 1353, Lucerne, Zurich, Glarus, Zug, and 
Berne, had acceded. The victories of Sempach, where Arnold Winkelried sacrificed 
his life, and of Nafels, gave them an uncertain peace. But the warlike spirit of the 
people fostered a love of conquest and plunder ; mutual hatred kindled civil wars 
between neighboring cantons, and foreign powers sought the aid of the confederates 
in their contests. In 1424, the people of the Gray League established their inde- 
pendence, and were soon after joined by those of the other two leagues. The empe- 
ror Frederic III. then called a French army into Switzerland to protect his family 
estates: the Swiss made a second Thermopylae of the churchyard of St. Jacob, at 
Basle, where 1,600 of them withstood 20,000 French under the dauphin Louis, 
August 26, 1444 ; they next provoked Charles the Bold of Burgundy, who marched 
into their country, but was defeated at Granson, Murten or Morat, and Nancy, in 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SWITZERLAND. 497 

1477. The confederates themselves aspired to conquest, the people being fired by 
the desire of plunder, and the nobles by ambition of glory. In 1460, they wrested 
Thurgau from Austria ; and from 1436 to 1450, Zurich, Sehweitz, and Glarus, con- 
tended for Toggenburg, till Berne decided the dispute in favor of Sehweitz. 

The confederated cantons now bore the name of the Swiss confederacy in foreign 
countries. In 1481, Friburg and Soleure entered the confederacy. The emperor, 
Maximilian I., determined to force the Swiss to join the Suabian league, and to sub- 
mit to the court of the imperial chamber ; but they suspected Germany on account of 
Austria, and joined the Grisons. Hence arose the Suabian war, which was conclu- 
ded, after the Swiss had gained six victories over the Germans, by the peace of Basle, 
in 1499. Basle, Schaflfhausen, and Appenzell, were afterward admitted into the 
confederacy. But the country and people were disturbed by domestic and foreign 
wars. 

In the Milanese war of 1512, the Swiss conquered the Valteline and Chiavenna, 
and obtained from Milan the Italian bailliages, which form at present the canton of 
Tessin. They fought on a foreign soil — now for, now against Milan — at one time for 
France, and at another time against her — till after the great battle of Marignano, 
gained by Francis I., in 1515, they concluded a perpetual peace with France, at Fri- 
burg, in 1516, which was followed, in 1521, by the first formal alliance with that 
kingdom. About this time the work of the Reformation began in Switzerland. Zuin- 
glius, in 1518, preached against indulgences, as Luther had done in 1517. Even as 
early as 1516, he had attacked pilgrimages and the invocation of the Virgin Mary; 
and in 1517, with the knowledge of his patron, the abbot of Einsiedeln, several nuns 
abandoned the monastic life. His removal from Einsiedeln to Zurich, in 1518, gave 
him courage to speak more openly, as Luther had, meanwhile, appeared in the cause 
of reform. But when the principles of the Reformation were difi"used through Ziirich, 
Berne, SchafFhausen, Basle, St. Gall, Miihlhausen, and Bienne, religious jealousy 
separated the reformed and the catholic cantons. In Glarus, Appenzell, and the Gri- 
sons, the people were divided between the two confessions. Lucerne, IJri, Sehweitz, 
Underwalden, Zug, Friburg, and Soleure, adhered to the ancient faith, as did like- 
wise the Valais and the Italian bailiwicks. 

Fanaticism now kindled a civil war. The Schweitzers burnt a protestant preacher 
of Zurich ; and two Swiss armies, nearly 30,000 strong, awaited the signal for civil 
war, when the word "concord" was pronounced, and the first religious peace was 
concluded in 1529. It was agreed that the majority of votes in the communities 
should decide all questions relating to changes of faith. But the rapid progress of 
the Reformation again provoked the catholic cantons to war ; and the troops of Zurich 
were routed at Cappel, where Zuinglius fell, and at the mountain of Zug. After the 
second public peace, the catholic religion was restored in Soleure and the common 
provinces. In the meantime. Savoy, which had long possessed episcopal and seig- 
neurial rights in Geneva, reduced the city to entire submission. But the oppressive 
manner in which the ducal authority was exercised, led Geneva, in 1525, to join Berne 
and Friburg. Berne and Geneva concluded the perpetual league of 1531, and Berne 
gained possession of the Pays de Vaud. At the same time, the reformed doctrines 
were propagated from Geneva by Calvin. 

By the peace of Lausanne, in 1564, Savoy first renounced her claims upon the Pays 
deVaud, and was thus driven from Helvetia, as Hapsburg had been before. About 
this time, Berne and Friburg divided between themselves the territories of the counts 
of Gruyere, so that, in all Helvetia, no great family of the ancient nobles retained its 
patrimonial estates, except that of Neuburg. The Swiss, however, were distracted 
by religious and political controversies. Aristocracy and democracy struggled for 
the superiority, and the intrigues of Spain filled the people of the Valteline with a 
spirit of fanaticism. In foreign, and especially in the French service, the Swiss 
adopted foreign manners : he sold his blood to foreign masters, and the ancient Swiss 
purity and simplicity retired to the remote valleys of the higher Alps. At the same 
time, the connexion of the confederacy with the German empire became less and less 
close, while the cantons obtained the confirmation of their rights from the emperor 
Maximilian II. But the influence of France soon became predominant, and Rome 
swayed the minds of its adherents by means of Jesuit colleges at Lucerne and Fri- 
burg, and particularly through the papal nuncio at Lucerne. 

In the thirty years' war, the confederates maintained a prudent neutrality ; and by 
the peace of Westphalia, the complete separation of Switzerland from the German 

32 



498 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

empire was at length solemnly acknowledged. In 1633, France renewed her alli- 
ance with the Swiss, and asserted that they had no right to form alliances with other 
powers. The conquest of Franche Compte, in 1674, and the siege of Rheinfeld, in 
1678, by the French, together with the erection of the fortress of Hiiningen, in 1679, 
excited the apprehensions of the Swiss ; they, however, still maintained their neu- 
trality, even in the war of the Spanish succession. During the persecution of the 
protestants in France, to whom they readily gave an asylum and pecuniary aid, they 
paid as little regard to the remonstrances of Louis, who viewed the reformers as reb- 
els, as he did to the intercession of the protestant Swiss cantons in favor of their 
brethren in the faith. 

The Swiss had little influence in foreign politics during the eighteenth century, 
and,, until toward its close, they suffered little from foreign interference. This tran- 
quillity, which, however, was often interrupted by internal dissensions, was alike 
favorable to the progress of commerce, agriculture, and manufactures, and to the 
arts and sciences. In almost every department of human knowledge, the Swiss of 
the eighteenth century, both at home and abroad, acquired distinguished reputation, 
as the names of Haller, Bonnet, Bernoulli, J. J. Rousseau, Lavater, Bodmer, Gess- 
ner, Sulzer, Hirzel, Fuseli, Hottinger, John von Miiiler, Pestalozzi, and many others, 
bear witness. The people of the democratic cantons enjoyed an almost unlimited 
freedom, and took a large share in the affairs of government. Those places which 
were under the general protection of the whole confederacy were not burdened by 
excessive taxes ; they enjoyed a high degree of civil freedom, and numerous munici- 
pal rights. The larger cantons, as Berne and Zurich, in which the government was 
administered by the capitals, or by a body of the citizens, who enjoyed many peculiar 
privileges, were also in a flourishing condition. There were no oppressive taxes, 
and almost everywhere the government was conscientiously conducted ; the ad- 
ministration of justice was cheap and simple, and benevolent institutions were 
numerous. 

Notwithstanding all these favorable circumstances, internal dissensions still con- 
tinued, and new troubles arose in 1790, which shook the political fabric ; blood was 
often spilt, and punishment rendered necessary. Although the Swiss had at first 
firmly maintained their neutrality in the wars of the French revolution, French power 
and intrigue gradually deprived them of their former constitution ; and after incorpo- 
rating several portions of Switzerland with the French and Cisalpine republics, the 
French converted the Swiss confederacy into the Helvetic republic, " one and indi- 
visible," under an executive directory of five persons. The legislative power was 
divided between a senate and a great council, to which each of the fourteen cantons 
sent twelve members. It was in vain that some of the democratic cantons attempted 
to prevent this resolution. They were speedily overpowered. But the oppressions 
of the French, the arbitrary manner in which they disposed of the highest offices, 
and the great number of weak and corrupt men who were raised to power, soon made 
the new officers contemptible. 

Aloys Reding, a man of enterprising spirit, whose family was celebrated in the 
annals of his country, formed the plan of overthrowing the central government. 
Underwalden, Schweitz, Zurich, Glarus, Appenzell, and the Grisons, wished to re- 
store the federal constitution ; and Reding imagined that Bonaparte himself, who 
had just withdrawn the French troops from Switzerland, would favor his plan. The 
smaller cantons, in their diet at Schweitz, in 1802, declared that they would not ac- 
cept the constitution which had been forced upon them, and that they preferred a 
federal government. The consequence was a civil war. Ziirich was besieged to no 
purpose by the troops of the Helvetic republic, against whom its gates were shut. 
Rodolph von Erlach and General Auf der Maur, at the head of the insurgents, occu- 
pied Berne and Friburg. The Helvetic government retired to Lausanne. Aloys 
Reding now summoned a general assembly, which was held at Schweitz. Three 
• days after, the first consul of France offered to the cantons his mediation ; but the 
small cantons, guided by Aloys Reding and Hirzel of Zurich, persevered in their op- 
position. Twelve thousand French troops entered Switzerland under Ney, and the 
. diet separated. Reding and Hirzel having been imprisoned. In December, both par- 
ties sent deputies of the eighteen cantons to Paris, to whom Bonaparte transmitted, 
•by Barthelemy, Fouche, and Roderer, the act of mediation of February 19, 1803, 
restoring the cantonal system, but granting freedom to the former subjects of the 
>- i^uitons. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SWITZERLAND. 499 

The cantons were now nineteen in number, Aargau, Appenzell, Basle, Berne, 
Friburg, Glarus, Grisons, Lucerne, St. Gall, Schaffhausen, Scliweitz, Soleure, Tessin, 
Thurgau, Underwalden, Uri, Pays de Vaud, Zug, and Zurich. The republic of 
Valais was changed, by a decree of Napoleon, in 1810, into a French department ; 
and he granted Neufchatel (which had been ceded to him by Prussia, but which was 
under the protection of Switzerland), to General Berthier, as a sovereign principality. 
Napoleon assumed the title of" mediator of Switzerland ;" and the militarj- service 
required of the Swiss became more and more oppressive. It was only by great firm- 
ness and the sacrifice of immense suras of money, that most of the cantonal govern- 
ments could avert greater oppression ; they were obliged to adopt the continental 
system, and the canton of Tessin was long garrisoned by French troops. 

In 1813, when the theatre of war approached Switzerland, France permitted the 
Swiss to maintain their neutrality ; but the allies expressed themselves ambiguously, 
and large armies were soon marched through the country in various directions to 
France. Their arrival excited a fermentation in many quarters. The act of media- 
tion was annulled, December 29, 1813, at Zurich, and several cantons, of which 
Berne was the first, labored to revive their old constitutions. Through the influence 
of the allied monarchs, the cantons were finally prevailed on to assemble a general 
council, but revolutions and counter-revolutions agitated several of the cantons. Some 
of them were in arms against each other, others enjoyed a happy tranquillity and the 
respect of the foreign powers. All, meanwhile, were engaged in settling their con- 
stitutions. The old cantons adhered more or less closely to their former frames 
of government, and the new cantons endeavored to give to those which they adopted 
more stability. A diet was at length assembled at Zurich, and new articles of con- 
federation were agreed upon by nineteen cantons. They resembled the old federal 
compact in many respects. This confederacy was acknowledged by the congress 
of Vienna. The bishopric of Basle, with Bienne, was given to the canton of Berne, 
excepting the district of Birseck, which fell to Basle, and a small portion which fell 
to Neufchatel. The former relations of the latter place to Prussia were restored, 
and, with Geneva and the Valais, it joined the confederacy of the Swiss cantons, 
making their number twenty-two. 

The compact of Zurich, was publicly and solemnly adopted in 1815, after the depu- 
ties of the confederacy at Vienna had given in their accession to the acts of the 
congress of Vienna, so far as they related to Switzerland. Soon after, Switzerland 
became a member of the holy alliance. But the political state of the Swiss cantons, 
as, settled by the congress of Vienna, and jealously watched by the holy alliance, 
gave rise to much disaffection in the great body of the people. Though republics 
in name, nothing could be less republican than many of their laws and customs ; 
privileges of orders, of corporations, of localities, and of family, interfered with the 
equal rights of the majority of the citizens. The federal diet was overawed by the 
holy alliance, and oppressed, in turn, the cantons; the chief towns tyrannized over 
the country districts, and a few trades or families tyrannized over the towns. Refu- 
gees for political offences, from the neighboring states, were refused an asylum, and 
the press was shackled by the diet, in opposition to the voice of the nation, and in 
compliance with the requests of the great powers. 

In the democratic cantons, in which the people were not oppressed by their can- 
tonal authorities, they were often disgusted with these servile compliances of the 
diet ; but in the aristocratical cantons, in which almost all the authority was in the 
hands of some patrician families, or the corporations of the trades, it was often 
abused to oppress the mass of the people. This was particularly the case in Berne, 
Basle, Friburg, Lucerne, Zurich, Schaffhausen, and Soleure. Still a third class of 
cantons was composed of the new members of the confederacy, professedly organ- 
ized on popular representative principles, but in which, in 1815, the elections were 
so arranged, that the whole power, in fact, was possessed by a small executive 
council. In this state of things, the general demand for reform in the electoral 
assemblies of Tessin (one of the new cantons), compelled the council, in 1830, to 
yield to the public voice, and establish a system of direct elections, and of publicity 
of proceedings in the great council, and to guaranty the liberty of the press, and 
the inviolability of persons, as parts of the constitution. This event, and the French 
revolution of July, 1830, set the example for general risings in various parts of the 
country. In the new cantons, the popular demands were generally so readily- 
complied with as to prevent any serious disturbances, and the democratic cantons 



500 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

took hardly any part in the troubles ; but in the old aristocratic cantons, the opposi- 
tion was stronger and more systematic. Still, as many of the townspeople were fa- 
vorable to more popular institutions, the governments, even in these cantons, gener- 
ally yielded, with little opposition, to the wishes of the citizens, and in Friburg, 
Berne, Lucerne, Soleure, and Schaffhausen, the revision of the constitution, the abo- 
lition of privileges, the extension of the right of election, abolition of censorship of 
the press, &c., were among the concessions to popular rights. 

In Basle, where the peasantry are more ignorant and rude than in the other can- 
tons, the insurgents were not satisfied with the concessions ; and a second insurrec- 
tion, in the summer of 1831, was not put down without bloodshed. The ordinary 
session of the diet took place at Lucerne, July 4, 1831, and the common concerns of 
the confederacy, both in its foreign and domestic relations, were found to be in a sat- 
isfactory condition. But toward the close of 1831, the canton of Neufchatel was dis- 
turbed by risings of some portion of the population, who renounced the authority of 
Prussia, and demanded a new constitution. The insurgents were, however, soon 
put down, and the country has since been tranquil. 

The natural history and geographical features of this interesting country must 
now be briefly noticed. Switzerland, the most elevated district in Europe, consists 
chiefly of mountains, lying near together, or piled one upon another, with narrow 
valleys between them. The highest mountains are found in Uri, Berne, Underv/al- 
den, and the Grisons. Of about rAxly Swiss mountains which have been measured, 
the highest is Monte Rosa, 15,535 feet high ; the lowest, Cholet, is 3,000 feet high. 
The lowest region of the productive mountains is covered with thick forests and 
rich meadows ; the middle consists of hills and narrow passes, containing pastures ; 
the third region is composed of sharp and almost inaccessible rocks, either wholly 
bare, without earth or grass, or covered with perpetual ice and snow. The middle 
regions are inhabited in summer by herdsmen, who find good pasturage for their 
cattle, and obtain excellent water from the mountain springs and streams. The 
herdsmen give an account of the milk, butter, and cheese, to the owners of the 
cattle, or pay them a stipulated portion of the proceeds. 

The glaciers, more than four hundred in number, are either the barren parts 
of the mountains, or heights which consist only of snow and ice. These icy moun- 
tains begin in the canton of Glarus, and extend to the Grisons, thence to the 
canton of Uri, and finally, down to Berne. The glaciers are produced by rocky val- 
leys, whose declivities are too small to admit of the ready descent of the water of 
the melted snow and ice, so that they are gradually filled up by vast masses of 
snow and ice, which accumulate in them. The continual alternation of hill and 
valley atTords the most striking natural scenes in every part of Switzerland. In 
some places, within a short distance, the traveller may see, at the same time, all the 
seasons of the year ; and it is often possible to stand between spring and summer, so 
as almost to collect snow with one hand, and pluck flowers from the soil with the 
other. Every mountain has' its waterfalls, and as their sources are sometimes lost in 
the clouds, the cataracts seem to descend from the skies. Switzerland abounds in 
lakes and rivers, the fisheries of which are valuable, and which serve to embellish 
the landscape. The lake of Zurich, one of the most picturesque in Switzerland, is 
twenty-five miles in length by three in breadth. The lake of Geneva is about fifty 
miles long, and eight to ten Avide. The lake of Neufchatel is twenty-eight by six ; 
and the lake of Lucerne, or the Vierwaldtstadtersee, twenty-five miles long, and 
where widest, as many broad, is celebrated for its beautiful environs. The largest 
rivers are the Rhine, the Reuss, or Riiss, the Rhone, and the Tessino or Ticino. 
The Rhine is remarkable for its falls, and the Reuss for a bridge, called the Devil's 
Bridge, which leads over it in the canton of Uri. It connects two mountains, 
between which the water rolls, at the depth of seventy-five feet below it. There 
are springs of excellent water among the hills, with warm and cold baths, and min- 
eral springs. 

In Thurgau, a part of Zurich, Basle, Schaffhausen, Berne, Soleure, and Friburg, 
everything is difi'erent ; for although there are some mountains, yet this part of Swit- 
zerland is more level ; there are here no Alps, no cataracts, few trees, and in summer, 
neither ice nor snow. In general the foot of the mountains, almost everywhere, is 
covered with farms, meadows, vineyards, and trees ; and even amid the rocks, there 
are numerous cultivated patches. Switzerland is rich in minerals, especially lime 
and clay, slate, black, gray, and dark-red marble, porphyry and alabaster ; also. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SWITZERLAND. 



501 



quartz, crystals, peat, coal, &c. Silver, copper, and iron ore likewise occur. Gold 
dust IS found in the rivers. 

The flora of Switzerland is peculiarly rich. The cultivation of the vine is carried 
to a great extent, and a considerable trade is carried on with France, Holland, Eng- 
land, and Suabia. Fruits are abundant, but corn is not produced in great quantities, 
owing, partly, to the great numbers of cattle which are bred here. The breeding 
of cattle is the chief employment of the inhabitants, for which the rich pastures of 
the valleys and hills afford great advantages. The Swiss cheeses are imported, in 
great numbers, into Germany, France, and Italy. Of the wild animals, the most 
important is the chamois ; the ibex, the marmot, and the lammergeyer, or vulture of 
the Alps, are also found. As to manufactures, those of linen, cotton, and of late 
years, silk, are the most important. 

The Swiss confederacy, according to the terms of the federal compact between 
the twenty-two cantons, is a federative state of twenty-two republics, who conduct 
their domestic concerns wholly independently of one another. Appenzell and Un- 
derwalden, however, consist of two distinct parts ; and in 1832, Basle was also divi- 
ded into two portions. The confederacy, as its limits were determined by the con- 
gress of Vienna, contains an area of nearly 20,000 square miles. The size and pop- 
ulation of the cantons are as follows : — 

Cantons. 

Ziirich 

Berne 

Lucerne 

Uri 

Schweitz 

Underwalden 

Glarus 

Zug . 

Friburg 

Soleure . 

Basle 

Schaffhausen 

Appenzell . 

St. Gall . 

Grisons 

Aargau . 

Thurgau 

Tessin . 

Pays de Vaud 

Valais . 

Neufchatel 

Geneva . 

For travelling in Switzerland, the months of July, August, and September, afford 
the most settled weather. The most delightful season is in September, and 
often even in October, when the shores of the lakes of Geneva, Neufchatel, and 
Bienne, and the charming scenes in the Pays de Vaud, enchant the visiter. The 
beginning of summer, and even the close of spring, are often equally favorable. The 
Alpine meadows, which are then decked with the most beautiful and rarest flowers, 
delight the eye, and afford rich stores to the botanist. The curious atmospheric phe- 
nomena which are frequently seen, and, on elevated mountains, even below the spec- 
tator, afford a new and sublime spectacle. The mild warmth, and the long days, 
render travelling at this period peculiarly pleasant. May, however, is commonly 
more beautiful than June, which is often rainy. 

Most travellers devote only six or eight weeks to visiting Switzerland, and limit 
themselves to the most interesting parts. With a proper and systematic plan, a 
stranger may travel through all the cantons in three months and a half, if he proceeds 
mostly on foot, and remains in every place only as long as is necessary to view all its 
curiosities ; but, owing to the frequent changes of weather, it is impossible to reckon 
upon three weeks in succession dry and warm ; as many as fourteen days, therefore, 
ought to be allowed out of the three months and a half for obstructions from rain or 
storms. There are no proper extra posts in Switzerland, though persons travelling 



Sq. miles. 


Population 


953 


224,150 


3,665 


356,710 


762 


105,600 


508 


13,930 


466 


36,040 


258 


23,150 


460 


28,000 


116 


14,710 


487 


67,814 


487 


54,380 


275 


55,330 


169 


28,050 


222 


57,510 


847 


157,700 


2,966 


98,090 


762 


152,900 


349 


89,845 


1,133 


103,950 


1,483 


178,880 


1,949 


77,570 


296 


56,640 


95 


53,560 



502 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

in their own coaches may procure a change of horses ; there are good regular coaches, 
however. Most travellers who arrive at the frontier places in the postcoaches, or in 
their own carriages, hire the horses and carriages which are always in readiness in 
the towns. The horses and mules are so used to the steep and rocky mountain roads, 
that, even on the brink of a deep precipice, the traveller feels himself perfectly safe. 
Those should be chosen, however, which have been used to carry, and not to draw. 

Roads lead over the Cenis, the Simplon, and, since 1818, over the Spliigen. The 
road over the Simplon may well be compared with the proudest works of the ancient 
Romans. Over the olher summits no one can travel, except on foot, or perhaps part 
of the way on horseback. In the valley of Chamouni, and in Grindelwald, there are 
very low and small four-wheeled carriages, which are extremely inconvenient. It is 
possible to travel in these a part of the way, also, over the great mountain of St. 
Bernard. On account of the sudden changes of weather, and the cold air on the 
mountains, it is necessary to be provided with warm clothing. The traveller, on 
excursions, should wear a light and easy dress, with half-boots, or, what is still bet- 
ter, shoes with gaiters, fastened tight about the feet, to prevent gravel from getting in. 
A traveller should provide himself with two pairs of shoes, very strong, with thicK 
heels and large-headed nails, to be worn over stony passes in wet weather, and on 
glaciers; and with light ones for the smooth plains. Experienced travellers disap- 
prove of the common irons fastened to the shoes. The Alpine shoes invented by Mr. 
Pictet are very good. The soles are at least three quarters of an inch in thickness, 
with a strong, but pliable upper leather, and with a covering of leather rising about 
one inch and a half above the sole, to secure the foot from any blow. Large steel 
nails, or rather screws, with heads somewhat more than four lines wide, which re- 
semble a truncated, four-sided pyramid, are inserted in the soles and heels — about 
seven in the former, and five in the latter. In the intervals between the sieel nails, 
common nails are driven in so that the heads touch one another. With this durable 
and not heavy shoe, one may walk safely over the naked granite, over ice and smooth 
grass. A staff, pointed with iron, is indispensable. In warm weather, a straw hat 
is preferable to a felt one. A cloak of oiled taffety, or oiled linen, to keep off the 
rain, is very convenient and warm, and, for this reason, a good protection on the high 
mountains or in a piercing wind. The traveller should also take a flannel shirt, 
which affords the best protection against sudden colds, light woollen pantaloons, and 
an overcoat of light cloth ; also, a covered flask for cherry-brandy, to bathe the tired 
limbs. The best comes from Grinde wald. To the mineralogist, the apron of thin 
leather, invented by Pictet, deserves to be recommended. It is never well for one to 
travel on the mountains alone, nor, on the other hand, in company with more than 
three or four persons, because of the scanty accommodations of the inns in the small 
places. A guide should always be procured, and very intelligent ones are easily to 
be met with. 

If a person is not used to walking, he should begin with short journeys every day ; 
but walking in Switzerland, even for females, is not so difficult as is commonly sup- 
posed. The mountains should be ascended, where it is possible, on the western side. 
The best descent is on the eastern declivities. It is unsafe to travel on the high 
mountains in spring, until after the avalanches have rolled down the sides. After a 
long and violent rain, a person should wait two days before traversing the high val- 
leys among the rocks, where pieces are liable to fall from the sides at such seasons. 
In snowy vales, and among the glaciers, it is well to cover the face with a green or 
dark gauze. Volatile alkali, diluted with water, mitigates the burning pains in the 
face, caused by the bright reflection of the sun's rays from the fields of snow and the 
glaciers. One should never travel over the glaciers after a fresh fall of snow (which 
sometimes happens even in the summer months), particularly at mid-day, for a trav- 
eller might then very easily break through the soft mass. To these rules the travel- 
ler will easily add such as his own experience may suggest. With these general 
remarks, we will now briefly allude to a few interesting spots. 

One of the principal cities in Switzerland is Geneva. This is the capital of a 
protestant canton of the same name. This city formerly belonged to the Allobroges, 
and was made a Roman colony. After a variety of changes, it was, with much diffi- 
culty, subdued by the dukes of Savoy, who had great trouble in making good their 
claims. In 1524, the city released herself from the ducal government, and nine years 
after from the Roman pontiff's also, by openly adopting protestant doctrines. The 
claims of the dukes for a long time gave rise to contentions, and in 1602 the reigning 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.-SWITZERLAND. 503 

duke made a last attempt to get the city into his power by surprise. The attempt 
failed, and an annual festival was instituted on the 12th of December, to commemo- 
rate the escalade. In 1603, by the mediation of Berne, Zurich, and Henry IV. of 
France, a permanent accommodation was effected with Savoy, by which that power 
renounced all her claims, and the three mediators guarantied to Geneva a free gov- 
ernment. 

This constitution was a mixture of democracy and aristocracy : the citizens formed 
the general or sovereign council, which had power to make laws, and to decide in 
matters of most importance to the public weal ; a great council, consisting of two 
hundred, and subsequently of two hundred and fifty members, was elected from among 
the citizens, and from these a small council of twenty-five members was chosen, un- 
der the presidency of the syndic ; and these had the executive power, the care of the 
public treasure, and the management of ordinary daily business. As early as 1536, 
it was determined that nothing should come before the great council till the smaller 
had signified their approbation, and |hat the great council must first approve what- 
ever was presented to the burgesses. This form of government remained for a long 
time, to the entire satisfaction of the people, until it degenerated into an oligarchy, 
particular families monopolizing the most important offices, and treating the citizens 
as their dependants. Signs of the disaffection thus produced soon discovered them- 
selves, in the course of the eighteenth century, in violent eruptions, and in demands 
for an amendment of the constitution. The complainants were denominated reprc' 
sentatives, and the adherents of the council-families negatives. The evil was in- 
creased by the old constitution of Geneva, according to which the inhabitants were 
divided into three classes, viz., the citizens, or such burgesses as were by birth enti- 
tled to citizenship, and were eligible to all offices; the burgeois, or such commoners 
as sprang from families recently introduced from abroad, who might attend the gen- 
eral council, but could not be members of the smaller council, nor be invested with 
public office ; and lastly, the householders, or commoners at large, such as had no 
right of citizenship whatever, and whose descendants were styled natives simply; All 
these classes had cause for discontent, and on this very account the small council was 
able to sustain itself longer in its usurped privileges. 

In 1781, they broke out into a violent rupture. The strife was terminated by the 
mediating powers, especially the French minister Virgennes, who were in favor of 
the oligarchy ; but the consequence was, that many families emigrated to Constance, 
to Neufchatel, England, and this country, carrying much of the skill and industry of 
the country with them. A later revolution, in 1789, placed the rights of the citizens 
on a better footing, and many of the emigrants and exiles returned ; but the French 
revolution now broke out, and during the reign of terror, in 1792, Soulavie was ap- 
pointed by his government resident at Geneva, and acted over in this country the 
horrible scenes then taking place in France. After this storm succeeded a few years 
of tranquillity. In 1798, French troops were quartered in the city, which was now 
incorporated with the republic of France. Geneva was the capital of the department 
of Leman. December 30, 1813, Geneva capitulated to the allies ; since then, it has 
formed the twenty-second canton of the Helvetic confederation. The constitution of 
Geneva is aristocratico-democratical. A council of state, composed of four syndics 
of the present and four of the past year, with twenty-one councillors of noble rank, 
possess the executive power. The legislative authority is vested in a representative 
assembly of two hundred and seventy-six members. 

The Genevese are as much distinguished by their interest in science as by their 
public spirit; and it excites the highest admiration to see how much they have done, 
and are still doing, with their limited means, for the interests of learning and the ad- 
vancement of society. This patriotic spirit extends even to the laboring-classes, who, 
to give an instance, in 1815, when Decandolle wished for a botanic garden, offered 
voluntarily to build, without remuneration, a hothouse, &c., and to furnish the neces- 
sary glass at their own expense. The principal public buildings are : — 

The university was founded in 1368, and was revived, in 1538, by the influence of 
Calvia and Beza. It has a public library containing 50,000 volumes, which is open 
to the public at stated periods ; an observatory, built in 1770 ; and an academic mu- 
seum of natural science, founded in 1818, comprising Saussure's mineral collection, 
Haller's herbarium, and Pictet's philosophical apparatus. The society of arts have 
appropriated eighty thousand francs to the erection of a splendid edifice, where the 
cabinets of natural science and the arts are to be deposited. 



504 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

The Rhone divides Geneva into three parts. The streets are irregularly built ; bu 
at a distance the city presents a very elegant appearance, not unlike a collection of 
country-seats surrounded by gardens. The footpaths of the principal streets are cov- 
ered with an awning, or penthouse, supported on pillars ; this is very convenient for 
pedestrians, but it throws an air of gloom over the city. The upper part of the town 
is much more attractive, being built on terraces ; and the stranger on entering Gene- 
va is struck with the beauty of these edifices, which have more the appearance of 
palaces than dwelling-houses. 

The cathedral is situated toward the bottom of the Place de la Taconnerie, but its 
principal entrance is toward the west. Its peristyle, supported by lofty pillars of 
marble, is a copy of that of the Pantheon of ancient Rome ; the symmetry of these 
pillars has a striking effect ; and the number of fine old trees in its vicinity renders it 
one of the most interesting portions of Geneva. From the towers of this cathedral, 
which command the lake, the views are delightful. 

In the cathedral are the mausoleums of several distinguished persons, among which 
are those of the Duke de Rohan, exiled by Cardinal Richelieu, and his son Tancred ; 
Agrippa d'Aubigne, &c. To the left of this edifice is situated the chapel of the Mac- 
cabees, originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was founded by Cardinal Jean 
de Brogni, and receives its name from a small village near Annecy, the place of his 
birth. The street of the Canons, near the Place de St. Pierre, in which Calvin died, 
has some elegant houses and terraces, from which the lake is seen to great advan- 
tage. The quarter of St. Gervais, formerly one of the suburbs, is at present the most 
populous part of the city, particularly for clock and watch makers, jewellers, enam- 
ellers, &c. In this quarter, on the banks of the Rhone, the tanners and chamoiseurs 
carry on their business, and thus any offensive effluvia is prevented from annoying 
the other parts of the city. 

The inhabitants of Geneva are principally employed in the manufacture of various 
kinds of jewelry, gold lace, stlk, porcelain, watches, mathematical instruments, &c. 
Indeed, Geneva may be said, in a great measure, to supply the continent with these 
article. The more wealthy part of the community are engaged in agencies of vari- 
ous kinds, and have extensive dealings with the funds in this country. 

Education has always been conducted by the inhabitants of Geneva with so much 
care, that it could hardly fail in producing a long catalogue of illustrious names, in 
which that of Rousseau stands pre-eminent. Others, not much inferior in celebrity, 
and superior in other respects, were Tronchin, Bonnet, and Saussure, as physicians 
and naturalists ; Burmalaqui and Mallet de Pan, writers on law ; Neckar, the minis- 
ter of Louis XVI., and his daughter, Madame de Stael. Berenger and Picot, histo- 
rians of Geneva, are also deserving of mention. At the present day, Lanjean, De 
Boissier, and Sismondi, continue to sustain its reputation. Calvin and Casaubon, 
whose names are intimately connected with the history of Geneva, were both natives 
of France. 

Geneva has a population of rather more than 30,000 persons, and its adjacent ter- 
ritory extends over an area of one hundred and twenty miles, nearly the whole of 
which is in a state of high cultivation. Great numbers of foreigners have selected 
this city or its environs for their residence, being no doubt influenced by the excellent 
moral character of its inhabitants, and the romantic beauty of its localities. 

The lake of Geneva is situated in the great valley which separates the mountains 
of the Jura from the Alps, and is considered one of the finest lakes in the south of 
Europe. It is fifty-four miles in length, and in its widest part fifteen miles in breadth. 
There are fish of various kinds caught in it, as pike, perch, carp, tench, &c. This 
beautiful lake is of the color of the sea, and in many respects not unlike it, for some- 
times it is agitated with enormous waves, and at others is as tranquil as a mirror ; it 
has also a beach much resembling that of the sea. 

In the winter, the lake is so rough as not to be navigated with safety ; hut the 
number of towns and villages on its shores, the vessels sailing backward and forward 
with merchandise, pleasure-boats, &c., afford a constant scene of life and beauty in 
the summer ; and the boldness and loveliness of the country are such as both to in- 
terest and delight the traveller. 

The little canton of Soleure is wedged in between the territories of Berne, Zurich, 
and Basle : its greatest breadth is thirty miles, and its length thirty-six : it has an 
area of two hundred and seventy-five square miles, and a population of fifty-four 
thousand and three hundred persons. The population of the capital of this country. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SWITZERLAND. 



505 




An old Man and Girl of the Canton of Soleure. 



is only three thousand and six hundred, yet this small spot is independent and in its 
principal city you will find curious monuments, an interesting arsenal, a penitentiary, 
a well-regulated college, libraries rich in rare books, and a great many capable and 
intelligent men. The capital of this canton bears the name of Soleure ; it stands at 
the foot of Mount Jura, and is divided by the river Aar, into two parts ; it is fortified 
with walls and bastions. The environs are pleasant and picturesque. This city is 
very ancient and many Roman antiquities have been found in it. 

The canton of Soleure embraces a part of the chain of the Jura, and on the river 
Aar the country is flat, well-wooded, and contains abundance of fruit-trees, fertile 
fields, and prairies, which are kept moist by the Aar, and by a number of other 
streams. 

The population of the canton of Soleure is almost entirely composed of catholics; 
the clergy possess great influence and to their sacerdotal functions add that of in- 
struction. In the city of Soleure there is one ecclesiastic, for about every eighty in- 
habitants. Most of the population are engaged in agricultural pursuits : there are 
some cotton factories, but the principal article of trade is the exportation of horses, 
cattle, firewood, cheese, and the famous kirch-wasser. 

Perhaps there is no name more revered by the Swiss, than William Tell, and 
justly is he entitled to their grateful remembrance, inasmuch as they are mainly in- 
debted to him for the proud position they now occupy, that of a republic embosomed 
in monarchies. In 1304, Rudolph of Hapsburg, the founder of the imperial house of 
Austria, died, leaving the government in the hands of Albert his eldest and then only 



"506 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

son, until the diet could proceed to a new election of emperor. This election was 
for some time deferred by the nobles and bishops, during which period Albert exerted 
every effort to secure to himself the crown. But he soon became very unpopular with 
the people, because of his proud deportment, and unfeeling and tyrannical disposi- 
tion. Finding their oppressions increasing during his protempore reign, the Schwitz 
renewed their solemn league, and waited with anxiety for the result of the election. 
It came, and Count Adolphus of Nassau was the successful candidate. Albert felt 
this check to his ambition deeply, but wisely concealed his feelings, determining how- 
ever to make a bold push for the crown. 

He won over to his side the powerful archbishop of Mentz and other clergy, mem- 
bers of the diet, with some of the nobles. An offence which Adolphus gave the 
archbishop, caused that prelate to take strong measures against him, and at length 
he went so far as to declare him deposed. This illegal act operated in favor 
of Albert, and when the diet ballotted for a new ruler, he was successful and 
won the crown so ardently sought for. Adolphus resorted to arms in defence of his 
legal rights, and the common freemen to a man flocked to his standard. But the 
nobles with their vassals were too powerful, and in the contest Adolphus lost his crown 
and his life. 

Albert was now left free to the dictates of his ambition. He resolved to create a 
new dukedom in Helvetia, and to unite the possessions of different members of his 
family, by obtaining the lands lying between them. These lands belonged to the 
free and industrious inhabitants of Uri, Schwitz, and Underwalden. To his proposi- 
tion they answered firmly, " Let us alone, we are content." And they also demanded 
the appointment over their districts of a vogt or bailiff, to manage public affairs in 
the place of the insolent officers of Albert, who, being disappointed in his scheme 
for consolidating his power, sent two vogts, that they might harass the people. 
These were Hermann Gessler of Brauneck, and Berenger of Landenberg, men of 
rude dispositions, and ready to execute the arbitrary orders of their master. This 
they did to the fullest extent, and construed them upon the broadest ground so as to 
suit their own base purposes. 

Gessler's first act of insult was to build a strong fortress at the foot of Mount St. 
Gothard, which he named the Restraint of Uri, This insult the inhabitants felt 
deeply, and resolved to punish the aggressor. About the same time, an act of cru- 
elty committed by Berenger in Underwalden, aroused the' people of the three can- 
tons to a full sense of the degrading despotism under which they were suffering. 
For some slight offence of his son, Arnold of Melcthal, an aged and quiet citizen, 
was fined a yoke of oxen. The messenger sent by Berenger to Arnold was as inso- 
lent as his master, and when the old man complained of the injustice of the fine, 
and his inability to pay, the insulting minion replied, " If you boors want bread, you 
can draw the plough yourselves." This insult enraged the younger Arnold, and he 
assaulted the messenger, and in the affray cut off one of his fingers. He imme- 
diately fled, knowing his punishment, if caught, would be severe. But the poor old 
man was obliged to bide the wrath of Berenger, in place of his son. He was obli- 
gated to pay a heavy fine, and not content with this unjust exaction, the monster, 
Berenger, ordered old Arnold's eyes to be put out. That puncture, says a writer, sunk 
deep into the heart of every freeman in Switzerland. 

Werner Stauffacher, an inflexible patriot and a man of considerable influence, was 
taunted by some of Berenger's minions, in a manner similar to that of Arnold of 
Melcthal, and he resolved on taking measures to expel these odious vogts. He com- 
municated his views to Walter Fiirst and young Arnold of Melcthal, and they took 
a solemn oath for freedom. These three chose each ten tried and confidential friends, 
and every night they met in a meadow on the banks of Lake Uri, near Rutli, to con- 
summate their plans. On Martinmas eve, the 11th of November, 1307, this little 
band of patriots, thirty-three in number, met for the last time, before striking for free- 
dom. Among these was the brave William Tell, the almost deified hero of Swiss 
liberty. When the hour of midnight arrived, they formed a circle upon the green 
grass, clasped each other's hands, and took a solemn oath by that G-od who fashioned 
all men alike, never to desert each other, and to devote their whole energies to 
restoring invaded franchises, but without despoiling others of their goods, rights, and 
lives. In a word, like our patriot sires, they pledged their " lives, their fortunes, and 
their sacred honor," to their country. This solemn league was made in the free and 
open air, with stars as witnesses, in the presence of their Maker. When the first 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SWITZERLAND. 567 

rays of dawn lighted the distant peaks of the Alps, they again clasped hands, again 
raised them in union toward heaven, solemnly repeated the oath they had already 
taken, and then each departed to his respective home, to prepare for the mighty 
struggle. 

The increasing discontents of the people made the vogts more harsh in their meas- 
ures. Many suspected of sedition were confined in dungeons, and every means was 
resorted to, to intimidate the inhabitants. So insolent had Gessler become, that he 
seemed to feel himself eq\ial to his imperial master. At Altorf he erected a pole 
near the gate, and placing his cap upon it, ordered every man who should enter the 
gate to bow in homage to it. But there was one man, a noble forester of Uri, whose 
proud and lofty spirit would not succumb to such petty and debasing tyranny as this. 
That man was William Tell. Having occasion to go to Altorf he passed through 
the gate with head erect, and to the astonishment of the guards, he omitted the act 
of homage. He was instantly seized, and commanded to bow to the cap. The 
high-minded Switzer looked first at the cap, and then to the armed guards around 
him, and then folding his arms and drawing his athletic frame up to his full height, 
said, "William Tell is a free citizen of Uri, a faithful subject of Prince Albert, of 
Hapsburg : Hermann Gessler is no more, but hath a little more power than the for- 
ester, because of his station. We are, like all men, equal, and William Tell will 
never bow to Hermann Gessler, much less to his hat." 

This bold defiance greatly enraged Gessler, and Tell was hurried to prison. The 
news of his arrest reached his family that night, and the anxious wife, guided in her 
judgment by the benevolent feelings of her own heart, the next morning at dawn 
sent her little son, a lad of ten years, to plead for the life and liberty of his father, 
erroneously supposing that the cherub innocence of childhood could awaken a single 
sympathetic feeling in the hard heart of the tyrant. At early dawn the child set off 
for Altorf with a basket of refreshments for his father, and instructed by his mother, 
made the usual obeisance to the cap at the gate, and asked admittance to the pres- 
ence of the vogt. The moment Gessler learned that the infant ambassador was a 
son of Tell, the base passions of his heart suggested a new act of cruelty. He 
ordered Tell to be brought out of prison, to make a treaty for his life and liberty. 
The poor child rushed into the arms of his father, and with all the simplicity of 
truth and nature, took him by the hand and begged him to go home, saying, " Mother 
cried all night, and prayed to the Lord for help, and when I came away she told me 
not to come home without you.'' 

A tear mounted to the eye of the forester at these words of his child, but a demo- 
niac smile played upon the features of the vogt. He told Tell that upon one condi- 
tion his life should be spared. It was, that his son should be placed at a great dis- 
tance from him, and an apple be put upon his heart and shot at by him (Tell). At this 
sentence the cheek of the forester paled, and he resolved to die rather than thus en- 
danger the life of his darling. But the boy begged his father to comply, saying, 
" God will direct your arrow." This assurance gave him courage, and with a firm 
hand he raised his crossbow. In a moment the apple was cleft in twain, and a shout 
arose from the multitude as Tell eagerly embraced his child. 

But the brow of Gessler became dark, as he saw an arrow drop from the folds of 
Tell's garment, when he stretched out his arms to embrace his son. He at once de- 
manded his intentions in concealing that arrow under his cloak. The forester hesi- 
tated, but Gessler promised him his life if he would tell. He advanced toward the 
vogt, and fixing his keen eyes upon him, said, " Had I shot my child, the second 
shaft was for thee, and be assured I should not have missed my mark a second time." 
Gessler was almost stifled with rage at this avowal. " Tell," said he, " I have 
promised thee life, but thou shalt pass it in a dungeon." He was immediately loaded 
with irons and put into a boat, to be taken across the lake to the fortress of Kuss- 
nacht, in Schwitz. During their voyage, a terrible storm arose ; the billows ran 
high, and speedy destruction seemed to await them. Gessler greatly alarmed, and 
aware of the knowledge which Tell possessed of the geography of the adjacent 
shores, ordered him to be released and put in possession of the helm, with the injunc- 
tion to steer direct for Kussnacht. Tell steered as best suited his purpose, and in 
less than two hours the skifi" approached a ledge of rocks, the only accessible point 
for landing which the shore presented in that region, and now known by the name 
of Tell's Platform. With a desperate effort he seized his crossbow and leaped on 
shore, leaving the vessel and its burden to the mercy of the waves. 



508 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Gessler and his crew, after beating about the lake for some time, finally succeeded 
in landing, but he escaped death from the billows only to meet it in another form. 
The insulted and deeply-injured Tell had watched with the keenest scrutiny the fate 
of the skiff, and observing Gessler bending his way toward Kussnacht, he concealed 
himself near a narrow defile, through which he knew the vogt must pass. With 
the same arrow which he declared would not have missed its mark, had he killed 
his child, did Tell now charge his bow, and with unerring aim sent it to the heart 
of Gessler. This was the first decided blow struck by a member of the league, 
and the achievement nerved the others with triple courage and desperate deter- 
mination. 

On New Year's eve, they proceeded to the castle of Rotsberg in Nidwalden, in 
which resided a young girl, betrothed to one of the men of the league. To her he 
had confided the secret, and secured her aid. On a proper signal being given, she 
appeared upon one of the walls of the castle, and by a rope which she had prepared, 
drew her lover up. With their united strength, all the others were successively 
drawn up, and without difficulty subdued the garrison, and took possession of the 
castle. Every person belonging to the castle was secured, and this victory, so 
silently and effectively achieved, was for many hours unknown beyond the walls of 
the fortress. 

Another stronghold was yet to be taken, ere it would be expedient to sound the 
war-cry throughout the cantons. This was the castle of Sarner, occupied by Beren- 
ger. Caution effected a victory in the first case, stratagem gave them success in 
this. The men of the league, with other tried friends who had joined them, went 
early on New Year's morn to the gates of the castle, and asked entrance as freemen 
to make presents to Berenger. As they were all unarmed, except with staves, they 
were admitted, when they immediately placed pike-heads upon their staves, gave a 
signal whistle that called in a numerous band from the neighboring forest, and after 
very slight resistance, these brave fellows became masters of the castle. The peo- 
ple, thus signally triumphant, demolished several other fortresses, and among them, 
Gessler's " Restraint of Uri." The nobles of the three cantons joined the league of 
the freemen and vassals, and on the following Sunday the lords of Uri, Schwitz, and 
Unterwalden, took the oath which the three and thirty had solemnly vowed at 
Rutli. 

This almost bloodless revolution had a powerful influence upon the future destiny 
of Switzerland, and laid the foundation for that compact of freedom which has with- 
stood the successive earthquake shocks of revolutions, that for five hundred years 
have repeatedly convulsed Europe to its very centre. And to every Switzer the 
name of William Tell is as familiar and dear as is the memory of Washington to 
us. He left behind him a name that grows brighter as the principles of civil liberty 
are more widely diffused ; and at Kussnacht, near the spot where Gessler fell by his 
hand, piety and patriotism have erected the chapel represented in our engraving. 

Many a fine bridge is to be found in Switzerland ; in fact the face of the country 
requires bridges, and tunnels, and trellises, to render it passable. The most remark- 
able bridge in Switzerland, and perhaps in Europe, is that known as the bridge of 
Friburg. The small but rapid river, the Sarine, descends from the Friburg Alps ; 
and after winding along a very beautiful and romantic valley (in the midst of the 
mountains) to which it gives its name, and traversing the Gruyere country, it flows 
past the city of Friburg, and falls into the Aar a little above Aarberg. It turns at a 
right angle round the base of the rock on which Friburg is built. The ground here 
descends toward the river to the south of it, with a very steep slope, and is quite 
perpendicular on the northeast. The principal part of the town with the cathedral 
is built along the precipitous side, which rises from two to three hundred feet above 
the bed of the river. The width of the valley on this side, at the height of two 
hundred feet, is not above three hundred yards ; and here the bridge is suspended. 
The hill on the northeast side of the river rises to a considerable height. 

Friburg had always been an interesting object to travellers, but its situation and 
the great difficulty of the approach, frequently deterred the timid from visiting it. 
Since the bridge has been opened, the concourse is immense, and all those who have 
seen it will allow that, far from exaggerating, we can not convey an adequate idea 
of the effect produced by the appearance of the bridge when seen in the morning 
or evening of a fine summer's day. If you stand in the valley at the place where the 
river forms a considerable angle, and look in a northern direction along the course 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SWITZERLAND. 



m 




510 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



of the stream, which is the view given in our engraving, you have the magnificent 
Frihurg Alps behind you. On the left you look up the valley of the Sarine, toward 
the mountains situated at the bottom of the lake of Geneva with the points of the 
higher Alps overtopping them, clad with eternal snow. Before you is the view 
down the valley, with the suspension bridge across it, as is represented in our engra- 
ving. The hills receding in the background toward the Jura, finish the splendid 
panorama. 

The road from Berne crosses this valley at the entrance of Friburg. It descends 
from the heights opposite the town, and now enters the city over the suspension 
bridge. But the old road, which remains for the use of the inhabitants in its line, 
descends steeply into the bottom of the valley, winds along the banks of the river, 
and passing the spot from which the view is taken, it crosses the river three times 
over wooden bridges before it reaches the gate at the south side of the city. Thence 
the ascent to the upper part, where the cathedral and principal inns are situated, is 
by extremely steep streets, rising obliquely upward, and built one above the other; 
so that, in one place, the upper street is carried on stone arches over the roofs of the 
houses in the street below. Those who recollect the old town of Edinburgh will 
readily understand this. The distance saved by the new bridge is more than two 
miles, but this is a trifling advantage compared to the fatigue saved both to travellers 
and horses, in the steep and dangerous ascent from the lower gate to the upper part 
of the town. 

The first view of the bridge from a distance is very striking ; the cables on which 
it is suspended are scarcely visible, and it looks like a tight rope or long plank 
stretched across the valley. The porticoes, or piers of solid masonry, stand on each 
side, through which is the entrance to the bridge. They are built in the Doric style, 
and are seventy-five feet high from the foundation on the rock, and rise sixty feet 
above the level of the bridge. The width of them is forty-two feet, and the depth 
eighteen. On the tops of these piers are iron friction-rollers, over which the suspen- 
sion cables pass, which are firmly attached to the solid rock on each side, at the 
distance of one hundred and sixty feet from them. The road turns under the cables 
before it passes through the piers to go on the bridge. This was unavoidable at 
the northeast entrance, on account of the steep rising of the hill ; and on the south- 
west, or city side, the street to which it leads runs parallel to the river, and conse- 
quently at right angles to the bridge. A new approach in a straight line will proba- 
bly be open in time ; but at present the buildings which are in the way would have 
required a great sum of money to purchase them, and the available funds are not 
sufficient. The foundation of the piers are on a hard and solid rock, and placed (for 
greater security) at the distance of thirty feet from the edge of the precipice. A 
small semi-circular terrace intervenes between each of the piers and the bridge, 
which add much to the elegance of the whole appearance, and afi"ord room for the 
toll-houses. The view from them is most beautiful up and down the valley, and 
toward the Alps. A section of th ese terraces is represented in fig. 2, page 513. A is the 
foundation of the pier ; B, B, B, the rock ; C, the terrace ; D, a stone wall to keep 
up the earth and stones by which the terrace is formed. In fig. 3, are represented 

Fig. 3. 




the friction-rollers over which the cables pass. These rollers are of cast-iron, and 
each supported on a massy block of Jura limestone, which is nearly as hard as 
granite. The whole pier is built of the same materials. All the blocks fit most 
accurately, and are hewn with fair faces and well squared. They are fastened 
together with iron bolts and straps, and every interstice between them is filled up 
•with a strong mortar poured on in a liquid state ; so that the whole forms nearly 



J 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SWITZERLAND. 



511 




512 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



solid mass like a rock. The iron used in this part, which amounts to upward of 
twelve tons, came from England by Genoa, was carried over the Alps by the 
Simplon, and by very steep roads to Friburg. Notwithstanding the expense of the 
carriage, it cost twenty per cent, less than iron which is manufactured within thirty 
miles of the spot could have been procured. Fig. 4 gives a transverse section of the 
bridge as you enter from the terrace. 




The whole bridge is supported or hung on four wire cables, which are suspended 
in pairs from pier to pier, forming a curve, of which the chord is eight hundred and 
seventy feet, and the perpendicular bend in the middle is fifty-five, where they come 
down within a foot of the road. This road, twenty-two feet broad, is formed of fir- 
planks, resting on rafters, which are again supported by beams projecting on each 
side of the bridge, where they rest in strong iron stirrups (fig. 5, A). A raised path 
for foot-passengers, three feet wide, runs on each side. The hook at the upper part 
of the stirrup (a a) is passed into the loop of a cord or wire, at the upper end of 
which is fixed a double hook (B), embracing two of the cables, of which the section 
is seen at b b. Thus the beams are suspended at both ends from the cables. They 
are one hundred and sixty-three in number, and at the distance of between four and 
five feet from each other. The rafters, on which the planks of the road are strongly 
fixed, lie across the beams, and are firmly boiled to them, which gives the whole 
road a considerable degree of stiffness. This is increased by an oaken railing, or 
parapet, formed of a succession of St, Andrew's crosses, surmounted by a strong top- 
rail. The railing is rather massy compared to the rest of the bridge ; but it gives 
greater solidity, and serves to prevent the fears which a slight railing might have 
excited in those who traverse the bridge on foot at so great a height. The top of 
the steeple of a church built in the valley is looked down upon as an inferior object. 

The cords by which the beams are suspended from the cables are each composed 
of thirty wires, about one twelfth of an inch in diameter ; and as each of these can 
support, without breaking, a weight of twelve hundred pounds, and there are one 
hundred and sixty-three pairs of them, they can sustain a weight of upward of five 
thousand tons, equally distributed over the road, including the weight of the road 
itself. 

The cables, which we shall now more minutely describe, are composed of similar 
wires formed into fifteen bundles of eighty wires each, they are not twisted like the 
strands of a hempen cable, but each wire goes straight from end to end ; and the 
whole fifteen bundles are firmly tied into a cylindrical form by means of annealed 
wire wound round the whole, at intervals of two or three feet. Two such cables 
are placed close together on each side, and pass over the friction rollers on the piers 
described before. There is a distance of nearly thirty feet between the two pairs of 
cables, and as the stirrups are only twenty-four feet from each other across the bridge, 
the suspending cords converge as they descend to the road ; this adds to the steadiness 
of the bridge. 

To prevent the wearing out of the cables by the rollers, and to divide the pressure 
upon them more equally, the fifteen bundles are not tied into a round form at the 
place where they go over the rollers, but are flatted out, and form a strap a few feet 
long. They are then again united in the form of a cable till they reach the place 
where they are fixed to the rock. The manner in which the ends are secured is in- 
genious and worthy of description. An oblique tunnel is excavated in the rock in 
the direction in which the cables descend from the piers, to the depth of forty-five 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SWITZERLAND. 



513 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. 2. 




Sections of the Suspension Bridge at Fribarg. 



33 



514 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

feet from the level of the road on the city side, and twice that depth on the other. 
At the end of this a vertical pit or well is made in the solid rock, to the depth of 
forty-five feet, with the sides cut into bevelled cavities (see fig. 6). A is the oblique 
tunnel ; B B the vertical well ; C C C the cavities in the side of it. In this well 
are pillars of masonry, the blocks of which are so arranged as to fit the cavities and 
resist any pressure upward. Through the centre of each pillar is a small cylindrical 
bore, which admits of a cable of half the size of the main cable. At the bottom is a 
very large block with a hole bored through the centre; the cable is passed through 
it, and fixed round a very strong piece of iron, which forms the anchor and bears the 
whole strain. Each main cable is attached to two others, which, passing down the 
oblique tunnels and over friction-rollers at the entrance of the well, are secured at the 
bottom in the manner described. There are consequently eight such fastenings at 
each end, which bear the enormous strain of the cables. Room is left to admit of 
the lower parts being occasionally inspected. 

The cables were raised from pier to pier without much trouble, each of the fifteen 
bundles being raised separately, and then the whole firmly connected. The descend- 
ing cords were then hooked on, the stirrups affixed, and the beams put through them. 
In this manner the road was carried forward rapidly and the bridge completed. The 
length of the cords was so adjusted that the bridge rises a lew feet in the middle, 
which tends to prevent too great vibration. Here the hooks, which embrace the 
cables on each side, and the stirrups, which hold the ends of the beams, touch each 
other. The cords are gradually longer toward each pier till they are equal to the 
height of the piers at each end. 

Great pains have been taken to have every wire stretched equally, and the whole 
firmly bound together. They are separately painted and varnished, and the whole 
cable is painted white, in order to make the least appearance of rust conspicuous. 

The work, after some interruption, was begun in the spring of 1832, and the bridge 
was completed and opened to the public on the 23d of August, 1834. No serious 
accident occurred, nor was there a single life lost, which is reflected on with peculiar 
satisfaction by the engineer and architect, M. Challey. 

We shall conclude this account with a short history of the construction of this 
bold specimen of modern art. Many ingeniously-constructed wooden bridges are to 
be found in all parts of Switzerland ; and that over the Rhine at ShafFhausen, which 
was destroyed in the late war, has been celebrated for the boldness of the span, which 
was three hundred and sixty feet. The idea of a bridge over the valley of the Sarine 
at Friburg was more than once entertained, and proposals and plans were made ; 
but the required height of the piers, and the danger from gusts of wind to a bridge 
so exposed, and which, if roofed in, as is the case with most of the Swiss wooden 
bridges, and essential to their duration, would present too great a surface to the 
storm, appeared insurmountable obstacles. When suspension bridges became more 
generally known, the idea of a bridge revived ; but all calculations of the expense of 
the common iron chains, or rods of suspension, where iron is so dear, deterred any 
one from undertaking it. The same difficulty had led to the substitution of wire, of 
which a small foot-bridge was constructed in 1823 over the Fossi at Geneva ; and in 
1825, M. Seguin constructed a larger bridge of wire over the Rhone. On the plan 
of these M. Challey, a French engineer, who in partnership with M. Sequin, junior, 
had built a wire bridge over the Rhone at Beaucaire in 1829, proposed to erect one 
at Friburg, and, after some negotiation, he contracted for it on the following con- 
ditions : — 

1. The ground for the works to be provided, and the approaches made for him ; 

2. Three hundred thousand francs (sixty thousand dollars) to be paid him as the 
works proceeded ; and 

3. The receipt of all the tolls for forty years from the opening of the bridge. 

In consideration of this, M. Challey engaged to finish the bridge, according to the 
plans agreed upon, at his own cost and risk, having the option of constructing it with 
two spans or only one — to keep it in repair for forty years, at his own cost. 

The option of a bridge with two spans was inserted, to satisfy some of the parties, 
who had a prejudice against so great a span as impracticable ; but M. Challey never 
for a moment entertained any other idea than that of a single bridge. The pier, 
which must have been built in the middle, must have been upward of two hundred 
feet high, and have had a very deep foundation : the expense of it would have been 
i enormous, aad the effect far inferior. The whole bridge, as it now stands, cost M-, 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SWITZERLAND. 515 

Challey only six hundred thousand francs (about one hundred and twenty thousand 
dollars), an extremely small sum considering the expense of the materials. The 
wire was drawn at Bienne, from iron forged in the canton of Berne. 

The strength of the cables of suspension is calculated to be sufficient to support on 
the bridge, without breaking, a load of nearly five hundred tons. The greatest load 
which can be upon it at one time in carriages, horses, and men, does not exceed one 
hundred and sixty tons. It was tried in the severest way before it was opened to the 
public ; for a train of artillery, of fifteen pieces of large cannon, with fifty horses, and 
three hundred men, passed over it on the 15th of October, 1834. Soldiers marched 
and counter-marched over the bridge, and men were crowded as close as they could 
stand, on difi'erent portions of the bridge, which made it sink several feet at those 
points. On the 19th it was publicly opened, and above two thousand persons were 
on the bridge at the same time. 

The Swiss are celebrated for their skill in the use of the rifle, and for their daring 
in hunting the chamois. This animal inhabits the most inaccessible parts of the 
woody regions of the great mountains of Europe. Like the klipspringer of the 
Cape, he is remarkable for the wonderful extent and precision of his leaps. He 
bounds over the chasms of rocks — he springs from one projection to another with 
unerring certainty — he throws himself from a height of twenty or even thirty yards, 
upon the smallest ledge, where there is scarcely room for his feet to plant them- 
selves. This extraordinary power of balancing the body — of instantly finding the 
centre of gravity — is a peculiarity of all the goat tribe, to which the chamois is 
nearly allied. The ability of the eye to measure distances with such undeviating 
exactness, is associated with this power of finding the centre of gravity. In the 
chamois these are instinctive faculties, which he possesses almost from the moment 
of his birth. They are not the result of training ; for the young chamois has only 
to acquire the necessary strength to be able to imitate the feats of his more practised 
companions. 

And yet man, by constant training, may attain an excellence in the employment 
of his senses, very little inferior to the instinctive powers of the lower animals. 
The chamois-hunters of the Alps are remarkable examples of what he may accom- 
plish by courage, perseverance, and constant experiment. If man fairly bring his 
physical powers, and his mechanical aids, into a contest even with such surprising 
faculties as the chamois possesses, the triumph is his ; and this triumph shows us 
that there are few things beyond the reach of human energy. The hunting of the 
chamois has been strikingly depicted in a work which unites the highest attain- 
ments of science with an occasional display of the more common interest of pictu- 
resque description. 

The chamois-hunter sets out upon his expedition of fatigue and danger generally 
in the night. His object is to find himself at the break of day in the most elevated 
pastures, where the chamois comes to feed, before the flocks shall have arrived there. 
The chamois feeds only at morning and evening. When the hunter has nearly 
reached the spot where he expects to find his prey, he reconnoitres with a telescope. 
If he finds not the chamois, he mounts still higher ; but if he discovers him, he en- 
deavors to climb above him and to get nearer, by passing round some ravine, or 
gliding behind some eminence or rock. When he is near enough to distinguish the 
horns of the animal (which are small, round, pointed, and bent backward like a 
hook, as in the engraving), he rests his rifle upon a rock, and takes his aim with 
great coolness. He rarely misses. This rifle is often double-barreled. If the cha- 
mois falls, he runs to his prey, makes sure of him by cutting the hamstrings, and 
applies himself to consider by what way he may best regain his village. If the 
route is very difficult, he contents himself with skinning the chamois ; but if the 
way is at all practicable with a load, he throws the animal over his shoulder, and 
bears it home to his family, undaunted by the distance he has to go, and the preci- 
pices he has to cross. 

But when, as is more frequently the case, the vigilant animal perceives the hunter, 
he flies with the greatest swiftness into the glaciers, leaping, with incredible speed, 
over the frozen snows and pointed rocks. It is particularly difficult to approach the 
chamois when there are many together. While the herd graze, one of them is 
planted as a sentinel on the point of some rock which commands all the avenues of 
their pasturage ; and when he perceives an object of alarm, he E*akes a sharp, hissing 
noise, at the sound of which all the rest run toward him, to jud| ' ; '^cjiemselves of the 



516 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

nature of the danger. If they discover a beast of prey, or a hunter, the most expe- 
rienced puts himself at their head, and they bound along, one after the other, into the 
most inaccessible places. 

It is then that the labors of the hunter commence ; for then, carried away by the 
excitement, he knows no danger. He crosses the snows, without thinking of the 
precipices which they may cover ; he plunges into the most dangerous passes of the 
mountains ; he climbs up, he leaps from rock to rock, without considering how he 
can return. The night often finds him in the heat of the pursuit ; but he does not 
give up for this obstacle. He considers that the chamois will stop during the dark- 
ness as well as himself, and that on the morrow he may again reach them. He 
passes then the night, not at the foot of a tree, nor in a cave covered with verdure, 
as the hunter of the plain does, but upon a naked rock, or upon a heap of rough 
stones, without any sort of shelter. He is alone, without fire, without light ; but he 
takes from his bag a bit of cheese, and some of the barley-bread, which is his ordi- 
nary food — bread so hard that he is obliged to break it between two stones, or to 
cleave it with the axe which he always carries with him, to cut steps which shall 
serve for his ladder up the rocks of ice. His frugal meal being soon ended, he puts 
a stone under his head, and is presently asleep, dreaming of the way the chamois 
has taken. He is awakened by the freshness of the morning air ; he rises, pierced 
through with cold ; he measures with his eyes the precipices which he must yet 
climb, to reach the chamois ; he drinks a little brandy (of which he always carries a 
small provision), throws his bag across his shoulder, and again rushes forward to 
encounter new dangers. These daring and persevering hunters often remain whole 
days in the dreariest solitudes of the glaciers of Chamouni ; and during this time, 
their families, and above all, their unhappy wives, feel the keenest alarm for their 
safety. 

And yet, with the full knowledge of the dangers to be encountered, the chase of 
the chamois is the object of an insurmountable passion. Saussure knew a handsome 
young man, of the district of Chamouni, who was about to be married ; and the ad 
venturous hunter thus addressed the naturalist: "My grandfather was killed in the 
chase of the chamois ; my father was killed also ; and I am so certain that I shall 
be killed myself, that I call this bag, which I always carry hunting, my winding- 
sheet ; I am sure that I shall have no other ; and yet if you were to offer to make 
my fortune, upon the condition that I should renounce the chase of the chamois, I 
should refuse your kindness." Saussure adds, that he went several journeys in the 
Alps with this young man ; that he possessed astonishing skill and strength, but that 
his temerity was greater than either ; and that two years afterward he met the fate 
which he anticipated, by his foot failing on the brink of a precipice to which he had 
leaped. A hunter named Gaspard St. Veri, while pursuing the chamois with two 
of his friends, fell into an abyss formed by the melting of the ice. His companions 
gave him up as lost : but anxious lo do all for his safety, they ran to the nearest cot- 
tage, which Avas several miles distant, to procure ropes. Finding none, however, 
they cut an old counterpane into strips, and ran to the gulf into which their comrade 
had fallen, and whose downward course had been arrested at the depth of thirty feet 
by the ice; half of his body was immersed in water; chilled with cold, he had 
resigned himself to God, in expectation of a lingering death. His comrades, how- 
ever, called to him and he answered ; the counterpane was lowered to the bottom, 
he tied it to himself, and it was drawn up. Just as he had reached the edge of the 
precipice, and was safe, a strip broke, and the unfortunate man fell again into the 
gulf, and broke his arm. His comrades, however, encouraged him, again tied the 
bands together, and twisted them to render them more strong. Gaspard now tied 
the end round his body, was again drawn up, and miraculously saved. 

It is the chase itself which attracts these people, more than the value of the prey ; 
it is the alternation of hope and fear — the continual excitement — the very dangers 
themselves— which render the chamois-hunter indifferent to all other pleasures. 
The same passion for hardy adventure constitutes the chief charm of the soldier's 
and the sailor's life ; and like all other passions, to be safe and innocent it must be 
indulged in great moderation — near akin as it is to one of our most senseless and 
mischievous propensities, gambling. 

The very few individuals who grow old in this trade, bear on their countenances 
the traces of the life which they have led. They have a wild, and somewhat hag- 
gard and desperate air, by which they may be recognised in the midst of a crowd. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SWITZERLAND. 



517 




518 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

Many of the superstitious peasants believe that they are sorcerers — that they have 
commerce with the evil spirit, and that it is he that throws them over the preci- 
pices. When the enormous glaciers and summits of Mont Blanc are beheld from 
the valleys, it is indeed almost miraculous that any mortal should be found hardy 
enough to climb them ; and it not unnatural that a simple peasantry should believe 
that something above human excitement had inspired these perilous undertakings. 
To the traveller, or to the native of the vale of Chamouni, Mont Blanc is an object 
of awe and astonishment ; and the devotion of the instructed, and the superstition of 
the unenlightened, are perhaps equally attributes to the God of nature, when they 
thus look upon one of the grandest of natural objects — 

" The dread ambassador from earth to heaven." 

It has often been remarked as matter of astonishment, that in such a country as 
Switzerland, where the magnificence of its scenery, its wild local traditions, and the 
almost patriarchal habits of the people, conspire to impress the mind with a poetic 
spirit, and to kindle the latent sparks of imagination into a vivid flame, so few of its 
inhabitants should have attempted to record the glories of their native country 
through the medium of either the pencil or the pen. Of the poetry of Switzerland 
we have not now to speak ; but in noticing the productions of Mind (almost the 
only Swiss name which has become celebrated in the annals of the sister art), we 
can not avoid making the remsrk, that painting in Switzerland has but seldom risen 
above mediocrity. It is true there are many artists in that country employed in the 
delineation of its scenery, its manners, and its costume ; but these have been called 
into existence by the constant demand of travellers, anxious to possess memorials of 
the places they visit, rather than by that inspiration which can alone form the per- 
fect artist, and which the mingled beauty and sublimity of the scenes by which the 
Swiss is surrounded, is so well calculated to bestow. One would imagine it impos- 
sible for an artist to gaze upon the majestic Alps, with its snows, and glaciers, and 
torrents, and pathless forests ; or to dwell in its valleys, clad with verdure, and ring- 
ing to the happy laugh of a simple peasantry, and not feel his heart dilate, and his 
ready hand obey the impulse of his mind, filled with those high imaginings, without 
which no painter, however facile his mechanical dexterity, will ever arrive at excel- 
lence in his art. Yet the generality of Swiss productions exhibit a total deficiency of 
these high qualifications; they are faithful representations of the objects they are 
designed to represent, certainly, being as exactly drawn as though done by means 
of the " camera-lucida," or fixed by the daguerreotype ; but, like such productions, 
they are excessively flat and tame, with none of that freedom and spirit which 
shine throughout the meanest efforts of the true artist, and which evince the existence 
of mind and imagination, and prove the work to be more than the production of a 
mere automaton or machine. 

Yet there are some Swiss painters who deserve not to be included in this censure, 
and among them may be mentioned Gesner, and Losi, and Mind, of the last of 
whom (better known, perhaps, as " the Cat-Painter"), being the author of the ac- 
companying designs, we have now to speak. 

Godfrey Mind was a native of Berne, where he was born in 1768. His father was 
a carpenter, in the employ of Mr. Grunn, a papermaker. This gentleman having a 
taste for the fine arts, had collected, among other engravings, a set of Ridinger's 
celebrated etchings of animals, which it is supposed first gave young Mind, who had 
many opportunities of admiring them, a taste for drawing, and to which may prob- 
ably be attributed the peculiar bent of the studies which in after-life rendered him 
so celebrated. The interest with which he regarded these productions, and his 
attempts to copy them, attracted the attention of an artist named Legel, one of Mr. 
Grunn 's friends, who encouraged him with his advice, corrected his youthful essays, 
and became, to all intents and purposes, young Mind's drawing-master. His father, 
however, does not appear to have been so well pleased with his son's performances 
as was Mr. Legel, and when Godfrey required paper for his sketches, he gave him 
wood, a material in the fashioning of which he was desirous his son should become 
as skilful as he was himself And indeed the fame of Mind, junior, as a " cunning" 
workman in wood, began to eclipse that of his honest parent, whose productions, 
though perhaps more useful to the community than those of his son, never obtained 
the same applause ; for Mind, who had imbibed quite a passion for animals, em- 
ployed himself in carving representations of sheep, goats, cats, &c., in wood, and 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— SWITZERLAND. 



519 



executed them with such fidelity that they were sought after by all the villagers, 
until scarcely a cottage was without some specimens of his genius. Among these, 
he particularly excelled in the representation of cats, for which he appeared to en- 
tertain a greater affection than he ever suffered himself to exhibit toward any of his 
friends. 

About the year 1780, he entered into the service of Freudenberger, an artist of 
some merit, who employed him to color his prints of Swiss costume, but he does not 
appear to have afforded him any instruction, or to have availed himself of the abil- 
ities of Mind as a designer. 

While Freudenberger lived, his days passed on in a wearying monotony, and it 
was not until the death of that artist, that the peculiar talent of Mind as an animal- 
painter began to be noticed. By unremitting study, and a constant devotion to one 
object, he was now enabled to attain an excellence in the delineation of animals, 
especially cats and bears, which few have ever equalled. 

He seems to have cared but for this one pursuit ; to have had no ambition or desire 
for the world's favor ; to have lived solely for his art. When Freudenberger died, 
he was content to receive a small pittance from his widow, in return for which he 
supplied her with those productions of his pencil, which then became, and still are, 
eagerly sought by amateurs and collectors ; absorbed in his solitary occupation, his 
whole thoughts were for the objects he delighted to paint. His cats were his con- 
stant and dearest companions ; he was never seen without them, and generally had 
one or two on his shoulders while drawing ; and so careful was he not to disturb 
them, that, rather than do so, he would sit for hours in one attitude, however incon- 
venient it might happen to be. 

As these were the most favored objects of his pencil, he represented them with 
the greatest success. But his bears are scarcely less perfect. He derived his ac- 
quaintaince with these from some specimens which were kept by the municipal 
authorities in the ditches of the ramparts at Berne, where he was frequently a visiter. 
Every look and action of these animals was watched, and immediately transferred 
to paper with a spirit and accuracy which long practice had rendered natural to him. 

But it is not only as a painter of animals that Mind deserves to be mentioned with 
honor, for although such were his favorite subjects, he would occasionally apply 
himself to the composition of little domestic scenes, representing the gambols of 




Children at Play. — From a Drawing by Mind. 



520 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




CONTINENTAL EUROPE.-SWITZERLAND. 



521 



children, their sports, pastimes, and usual occupations. In the delineation of those 
subjects he displayed an elegance of conception, considerable knowledge of drawing, 
great power of expression, and a vigor of execution, which, had not his affection for 
animals withdrawn him from the pursuit of this branch of his art, we can not doubt 
would have raised him to a place among the first of those artists who have made the 
human figure the principal object of their study. 

In the specimens before us, copied from his designs, it is impossible not to admire 
the simplicity and truth, yet perfect elegance of the composition. Every figure 
wears an animated expression, not only in the features, but in the whole form, and 
there are a grace and purity pervading the subject, which render it not inferior 
to the productions of Stothard. How inimitably graceful are those little figures 
swinging in the tub, and how admirably and elegantly is the idea of motion con- 
veyed ! We may almost see them move. 

And what a constellation of crescent beauty do we behold in those romping chil- 
dren, who appear as though they could scarcely, all together, resist the suppressed 
strength of the hardy little mountaineer at their head! One has evidently to pay 
forfeit ! The eldest of the girls is perhaps rather too womanish for such sports, 
but_ she is good-natured, and a favorite with the little ones, and she could not resist 
their entreaties that she would join them. But having promised, she engages, 
heart and soul, in the sport, and becomes as much a child as the rest. We can not 
quarrel with her. 

But alas ! the hand that could have ministered to our wishes has long been cold 
and powerless, and we have only now to lament that the mind which directed it was 
so exclusively occupied with subjects comparatively so trivial. 

_ Godfrey Mind died November 8, 1814, in the forty-sixth year of his age. A selec- 
tion from his works, which are much sought after by collectors, was published some 
years since, at Berne, in three parts. 



^ 


i 








w^ t 






J^$J^ 


y? 


^s^ 


^ 


// 






(^^^^ 


^\L 


/ 






^M 


|l1 


^ 


L "= 


-=( 


^ 


^^^^^ 













Amusements of Children. — From a drawing by Godfrey Mind. 



522 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



CHAPTER XXII.— BELGIUM. 



The revolution which ended in the separation of the important continental state 
of Belgium from the Dutch government, may be said to date its commencement from 
a meeting principally composed of citizens, which was called at Brussels, August 24, 
1830. From that moment the whole of the Netherlands seemed at once determined 
to throw oif the yoke of the Dutch monarch ; and it happened somewhat strangely, 
that one of the most popular monarchies on the continent became the first to follow 
the example of France, in changing its form of government. On the 26th of Novem- 
ber, in the same year, a national congress, which had been convened by the people, 
came to a resolution, by a majority of one hundred and sixty-one to twenty-eight, to 
exclude the house of Nassau from the Belgic throne ; and in the following month 
they decreed : 1. That the territory of Belgium should be divided into four great 
territorial arrondissements, which should be called the first, second, third, and fourth 
divisions. 2. The first should comprehend the provinces of East and West Flanders ; 
the second, the provinces of Antwerp and South Brabant ; the third, the provinces 
of Limberg and Liege ; the fourth, the provinces of Hainault, Namur, and Luxem- 
burg. 3. Each arrondissement to be commanded by a general of division. 4. Each 
province to be commanded by a general, or superior officer, who should have at least 
the rank of lieutenant-colonel. 

After a short struggle with the Dutch troops, in which the latter generally had the 
advantage, France lent her aid in the contest ; and the European powers having be- 
come mediators, for the express purpose of dismembering the countries, it was 
finally settled that Leopold of Saxe-Coburg should become the head of the future 
kingdom. 

Thursday, July 21, 1831, Leopold made his public entry into Brussels, and in sight 
of the assembled people, solemnly repeated the oath to observe the constitution and 
maintain the national independence and integrity. In sight of the people also, the 
king signed the constitution. On the 8th of September, his majesty. King Leopold, 
opened the Belgian parliament for the first time with a speech from the throne. 

But little has since occurred to disturb the tranquillity of the two countries, with 
the exception of the attack on Antwerp, which our readers will find detailed when 
speaking of that city. The Belgians now possess a constitution of their own 
framing ; and the general prospects of the country appear to have improved by the 
change. 

Brussels, or Bruxelles, the capital of the new kingdom of Belgium, and, alter- 
nately with the Hague, the seat of the late government of the United Netherlands, 
stands on the Senne, a small branch of the Schelde, in north latitude 50® 51'. Its 
central position, joined to the facilities which it possesses for communicating with 
all parts of the kingdom, renders it a convenient situation for the residence of the 
government. As early as the year 1561, a canal was made from Brussels to the 
Ruppel, a branch of the Schelde, by means of which this city has now had the ad- 
vantage of water communication with Antwerp and the German ocean for more than 
two and a half centuries. Another canal running south from Brussels, connects it 
with Charleroi on the Sambre ; while a branch, that strikes off to the west before the 
canal reaches Charleroi, leads to the stone-quarries of Fontaine I'Eveque and the coal 
districts of Mons. 

The city of Brussels is partly situated on a small eminence, and partly on a lower 
level, some of the streets being very steep. The ramparts which once surrounded it, 
are now levelled and changed into promenades like the boulevards of Paris. Brussels 
is six or seven miles in circumference, has eight principal entrances, as many squares 
or public places, and before the late revolution, had about 100,000 inhabitants. The 
lower town, which is irregularly built, and contains a number of houses in the Gothic 
style, is chiefly peopled by Flemings, who speak their own language. A colony of 
Walloons is found in the southeast corner of the city ; while some Spanish refugees, 
Jews, French, and English residents, add to the motley population of the place. 
The quarter of the park is that which is occupied by the people of rank and property, 
and by the English. The park contains a great central area, intersected by broad 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— BELGIUM. 



523 




524 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

gravel walks, which are lined with elm, lime, and walnut trees, altogether forming 
a delightful promenade, and an agreeable shade in the hot days of summer. 

The Grand place, called also the great market, is an oblong square. Its chief 
ornament is the Hotel de Ville, or townhall, a Gothic building of a square form, and 
the handsomest structure of the kind in the low countries. This edifice was com- 
'menced in 1400, and finished in 1442. The tower, which is of a pyramidal form, 
does not stand precisely in the centre of the building. Its height is three hundred 
and sixty-four feet, and its summit is crowned Avith a gilded statue of St. Michael 
trampling a dragon under his feet. The statue itself is seventeen feet high, and as 
it turns with the wind serves the purpose of a weathercock. Like all the rest of the 
edifice this tower is built of a very durable blue-colored stone. 

The principal door is immediately under the tower, and an open piazza, which 
runsthe whole length of the front, is formed by columns, which support a terrace of 
the same depth as the piazza itself. This terrace is ornamented with a stone-sculp- 
tured balustrade, loaded with ornaments. On the right side of the piazza is a stair- 
case, by which we enter the rooms of the building, and this is properly the real en- 
trance. The front has forty windows, and between each is a niche, designed to re- 
ceive statues of the sovereigns and celebrated men of Brabant. The roof is slated, 
and pierced with about eighty small windows, which have pointed tops or coverings, 
and gilded ornaments. On the entablature of the wall a balustrade rises breast-high, 
and serves as the finish. The top of the roof is covered with lead, and variously 
ornamented. On passing through the principal door we come to an oblong square, 
or court ; the buildings which form this square were erected after the bombard- 
ment of 1695, when the French, under Marshal Villeroi, destroyed fourteen 
churches, and several thousand houses. This court contains two fountains, each 
adorned with a statue of white marble, representing a river-god reclining in the 
midst of reeds, and restmg one arm on an urn. All the rooms of the edifice are 
capacious and elevated, and each was appropriated to some particular purpose. 
That in which the states of Brabant met, together with its appendages, is in the part 
constructed after the bombardment of 1695, and merits a particular notice. It is 
connected with four other apartments, one of which used to be occupied by the offi- 
cers of the states ; there was also the registry-room near it, and several other apart- 
ments of small size. The great room is reached by a gallery, containing six portraits 
of dukes of Brabant, by C. Grange. In three of the chambers are tapestries, which 
were made from the designs of Le Brun, and have reference to the history of Clovis. 
The ceiling of the second was painted by V. H. Janssens, and is an allegorical repre- 
sentation of the three estates of Brabant — the clergy, nobility, and the tiers etat ; 
which last consisted of the towns of Louvain, Brussels, and Antwerp. Over the 
chimney is a picture representing Godfrey III., called the bearded, in his cradle, 
which is hung from a tree in the midst of his army. The sight of the cradle anima- 
ted his soldiers to such a degree, that after three days' fighting they gained a decisive 
victory over the confederate princes of Grimbergheand Malines. Over the chimney 
in the third room are the portraits of Maximilian of Austria, and Maria of Burgundy. 
The fourth room, that in which the states assembled, and which was called the 
states' chamber, is highly ornamented : over the chimney is a portrait of a prince 
of Lorrain, painted by Lins. The canopy and its adjuncts were of crimson velvet, 
ornamented with gold fringe. Under the canopy is a standing portrait of Joseph II., 
painted by Herreyhs of Antwerp. The ceiling, which was painted by Janssens, 
represents the assembly of the gods : the cornice is enriched with gilded sculpture. 
Between the windows are painted the three chief towns, Louvain, Brussels, and 
Antwerp. All the part of the wall opposite the window is furnished with beautiful 
tapestries — one representing the inauguration of Charles VL, another the abdication 
of Charles V., and the third the inauguration of Philip the Good. These tapestries 
were executed by L. Legniers, after the designs of Janssens. On each side of the 
throne are two mirrors, under each of which is a table, made of a composition to 
imitate marble, and on this composition the topographical maps of Brabant are cut 
with the greatest accuracy. The great table which was placed in the middle of the 
room was twelve feet wide and forty long, and covered with velvet, which was 
ornamented with a deep fringe of gold, and hung down on the floor. 

Brussels contains many handsome churches, and some of great antiquity. The 
old church of St. Gudule, near the great Sablon square, is approached by a magnifi- 
cent fliight of steps, and attracts the attention of travellers by the curious carvings 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— BELGIUM. 



525 




526 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

of the pulpit, which is made of oak, and represents, in bas-relief, the banishment of 
Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden. 

As a seat of science and literature, Brussels holds a high rank, and contains the 
usual appendages of libraries, academies, a botanic garden, &c., which are found in 
most large continental cities. It has lately been proposed to establish one university 
in Brussels for the whole kingdom, in place of those already existing in Louvaine, 
Ghent, and Liege. The gallery of paintings is an extensive and fine collection, 
adorned with the works of the best Flemish painters, and affording an excellent 
school for young artists. Painting, indeed, a few years back, received much en- 
couragement at Brussels, to which the general demand in Belgium for fine altar- 
pieces must materially contriljute. The botanic garden of Brussels is neither large 
nor remarkable for its collection of plants ; but it has a noble repository for orange 
trees, about one hundred and forty feet long and fifty wide. Some tourists say that, 
in 1817, there were about one hundred and seventy of these beautiful trees of various 
sizes, some as high as eighteen feet including the tub in which they stand, and with 
stems measuring as much as two feet in circumference. The orange-trees have sur- 
vived the numerous political changes which this city has undergone. Some of them, 
being at least two hundred years old, have belonged to the various archdukes and 
archduchesses of Austria, who have held their court at Brussels ; they have outlived 
the dominion of the French, the dynasty of William of Orange, the first and last king 
of the entire Netherlands, and, if they still exist, as we suppose they do, they are 
now flourishing under a new system of government. 

Among the pleasant walks of Brussels, one of the most delightful is a long avenue 
planted chiefly with limes and elms, which leads from the north part of the city 
toward the palace of Lacken, formerly the summer residence of the late king of the 
Netherlands. To the south of the city lies the forest of Soignies, through which the 
road passes for the greatest part of the way to Waterloo, which is about ten miles 
south of Brussels. The common beach is the most prevalent tree in the forest ; but 
elm, oak, and ash, also grow here. This forest supplies Brussels with firewood, 
which is cut in logs about three feet long, and about a foot round. The scattered 
huts of the woodmen, sometimes with mud walls, are seen here and there. 

Brussels has long been a considerable manufacturing town, and is particularly noted 
for its lace ; but, before the late revolution, the cotton-spinning, calico-printing, and 
the manufacture of cotton cloth, employed many thousand people — in 1815, as many 
as twelve thousand. Woollen cloth, hats, glass, gold and silver articles, are also 
among the products of its manufacturing industry. The book-manufactory itself, 
including type-founding, printing, and sale of books, employs a great number of people. 

The city, with the territory around it, and indeed the whole country of the Nether- 
lands, has been subject to great political changes, to which, from its position with 
respect to the west of Europe, it seems particularly exposed. Under the dukes of 
Brabant, the princes of the house of Burgundy, and the Spanish and Austrian gov- 
ernorS; Brussels grew into a city of importance for its wealth and manufacturing in- 
dustry ; but like many of the towns of the low countries it has occasionally witnessed 
scenes of horror, such as, for humanity's sake, we hope will not be soon repeated. 
The ferocious duke of Alva resided here during the. latter days of Spanish tyranny, 
and shed more blood during his short administration than probably any European 
tyrant on record. The counts of Egmont and Horn were executed in the great square 
of Brussels before the eyes of this sanguinary governor. 

In speaking of the literary and scientific institutions of Brussels, we should not 
omit to mention the geographical establishment of a private individual, M. Van der 
Maelen. The following particulars are derived from M. Balbi's new geographical 
work, which contains the only account that we have by us at present : M. Van der 
Maelen's establishment contains numerous workshops for artists, a garden for natu- 
ralizing plants, a museum of natural history, and a good library. The library con- 
tains an immense collection of voyages, periodical works, memoirs of academies, and 
a very large collection of maps. This institution has already published an atlas in 
four hundred sheets, which, if properly placed, would form a globe about twenty-four 
feet in diameter. TThis spirited individual has also published an atlas of Europe in 
one hundred and sixty-five sheets, a map of Belgium in forty-two, of Holland in 
twenty-four, and special geographical dictionaries of all the Belgic provinces, on a 
plan entirely new, containing all the geographical and statistical information that 
can be required. 



continent:a;i:. Europe.— Belgium. 527 

Within a few miles of Brussels is the battle-ground of Waterloo, the spot oa 
which was decided the fate of Europe. One of the most interesting places visited 
while strolling over this celebrated spot, is the chateau of Hougoumont, a name 
intimately associated with the fietd of Waterloo ; and though an interval of thirty 
years has somewhat mellowed the interest which the narrative of that eventful 
battle inspires, it can not be read without the exciting recollection, that on the issue 
of that day hung, probably, the fate, or rather the repose of Europe. 

The chateau (i. e. couutry-seat, one of those continental residences which unite in 
them something of the natures of a castle and a farmhouse) was the residence of a 
Beigic gentleman. It stands on a little eminence near the main road, leading from 
Brussels to Nivelles. The buildings consisted of an old tower and a chapel, and a 
number of offices, partly surrounded by a farmyard. The garden was enclosed by a 
high and strong wall ; round the garden was a wood or orchard, which was enclosed 
by a thick hedge concealing the wall. The position of the place was of importance 
in the plan on which the duke of Wellington had decided to receive the French, as 
it commanded the right of the British army, and admitted of being defended with 
advantage. Accordingly, on the night of the 17th of June, 1815, a number of troops 
were appointed for its occupation. The whole force amounted to about from four- 
teen hundred to fifteen hundred men, and were under the command of Sir John 
Byng. Immediately previous to the action, three hundred of the Nassau troops 
(sharpshooters) were added to the garrison. 

During the night of the 17th, which was stormy and wet, the troops were busy 
preparing for the approaching contest, by perforating the walls, making loopholes 
for the fire of musketry, and by erecting scaffolding, for the purpose of firing from 
the top. 

The importance of Hougoumont was appreciated by Bonaparte as well as by the 
duke of Wellington. If the chateau could have been carried, and at the same time 
the French had occupied with artillery the high road leading to Nivelles, it would 
have enabled them to push forward to the very centre of the British line, and might 
have materially influenced the success of the day. The battle of the 18th began, 
therefore, by the attack on Hougoumont. Three divisions, each consisting of ten 
thousand men, moved on to the assault. 

The first division, commanded by Jerome Bonaparte, reached the place about half 
past eleven o'clock, and advanced to the attack with great impetuosity. After a 
short but violent struggle, in which an immense number were slain, they retreated. 
The second division, commanded by General Foy, instantly renewed the combat, and 
assailed the place with terrible fury. So tremendous was the onset, that the Nassau 
troops, who had been stationed in the grove of Hougoumont, abandoned their post, 
and the chateau itself must have been carried, but for the stubborn and desperate 
courage of that detachment of the Guards to whom the defence was intrusted. A 
French officer, followed by a few men, actually forced his way into the courtyard of 
the chateau, but all these were bayoneted. Colonel Macdonnell, the brother of the 
Highland chief, Glengarry, was obliged to fight hand to hand among the assailants, 
and was indebted to personal strength no less than courage, for his success in the 
perilous duty of shutting the gates of the courtyard against the enemy. 

Napoleon himself says (Historical Memoirs) : " While everything was preparing 
for this decisive attack," the grand assault which he meditated, " Prince Jerome's 
division on the left commenced a fire of musketry at the wood of Hougoumont. 
The action soon became very warm, the enemy having unmasked nearly forty pieces 
of artillery. General Reille advanced the battery of artillery of his second division, 
and the emperor sent an order to General Kellerman to advance his twelve pieces of 
light artillery ; the cannonade was now extremely brisk. Prince Jerome carried the 
wood of Hougoumont several times, and was as often repulsed from it ; this spot 
was defended by a division of the English Guards, the best troops of the enemy. It 
was gratifying to see them on the right, as it rendered the grand attack on the left 
more easy. The division of General Foy supported Jerome's division ; prodigies of 
valor were performed on both sides ; the English Guards covered the wood and the 
avenues of the castle with their dead, but not without selling their blood dearly. 
After many vicissitudes, which occupied a great part of the day, the whole of the 
wood remained in the possession of the French ; but the castle, in which some 
hundreds of intrepid English troops defended themselves, opposed an invincible 
resistance. The emperor ordered it to be attacked by a battery of eight howitzers, 



528 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

which set fire to the barns aud roofs ; this soou rendered the French masters of that 
position." 

Eut the French were not, at any period of the day, masters of this position. "Had 
it been lost," remarks a lady, who was a near observer of the agitatmg scenes of 
the month of June, and visited the spot a few days after the battle, " the victory to 
the French would scarcely have been doubtful." This, of course, is very question- 
able ; yet still the post was of great importance, and it was defended with a bravery 
commensurate with such a conviction. In vain did the assailants renew effort after 
effort to carry it, they were not only unsuccessful, but were driven out of the wood, 
of which they had actual possession. About one o'clock, six companies of the 
Guards, under Colonel Hepburn, drove back Foy's division with immense loss, again 
occupied the wood, and reinforced the little garrison in the chateau. This was a 
tremendous encounter. Men fought hand to hand, wiih a sort of savage fury. After 
this repulse, the ardor of the assailants somewhat slackened ; but at ho period of the 
day was the attempt to gain possession of Hougoumont abandoned. The attack on 
it lasted from half-past eleven in the morning until eight at night, about which time 
occurred Napoleon's last grand efiFort — the onset of the Imperial Guards — the mem- 
orable charge of the British troops — and the final rout of the French army. 

The loss of the French in attacking Hougoumont was enormous. The division of 
General Foy alone lost about 3,000 men ; and the total loss is estimated at above 
10,000 in killed and wounded. The British Guards lost, in killed and wounded, in 
the defence of Hougoumont, nearly nine hundred men, of whom twenty-eight were 
officers ; the foreign troops, Nassau and Brunswickers, about one hundred. 

" Hougoumont," says Scott, "(a name bestowed by, I believe, a mistake of our great 
commander, but which will certainly supersede the more proper one of Chateau- 
Goumont) is the only place of consideration which was totally destroyed. The shat- 
tered and blackened ruins of this little chateau remain among the wreck of its gar- 
den ; while the fruit-trees, half torn down, half fastened to the wall, give some idea 
of the Dutch neatness with which it had been kept, ere the storm of war approached 
it. The garden-wall being secured by a strong, high hedge, it is supposed the 
French continued the attack for some time, before they were aware of the great 
strength of their defences." 

" Its broken walls," adds the lady from whose work we have already quoted, 
*' and falling roofs, presented a most melancholy spectacle ; not melancholy merely 
from its being a pile of ruins, but from the vestiges it presented of that tremendous 
and recent warfare by which those ruins had been caused. Its huge blackened 
beams had fallen in every direction upon the crumbling heaps of stone and plaster, 
which were intermixed with broken pieces of the marble flags, the carved cornices, 
and the gilded mirrors that once ornamented it. 

" A poor countryman, with his wife and children, inhabited a miserable shed 
among these deserted ruins. This unfortunate family had only fled from the spot on 
the morning of the battle. , Their little dwelling had been burnt, and all their prop- 
erty had perished in the flames. It is a remarkable circumstance, that amid this 
scene of destruction, and surrounded on all sides by the shattered walls and smoking 
piles of this 'ruined and roofless abode,' the little chapel belonging to the chateau 
stood uninjured. Its preservation appeared to these simple peasants an unquestion- 
able miracle ; and we felt more inclined to respect than to wonder at the supersti- 
tious veneration with which they regarded it."' Sir John Sinclair remarks that the 
tower was burnt, and that the fire penetrated to the chapel. " The guide," says 
he, " pointed out to me a crucifix of wood which the fire had attacked, and as it was 
damaged only in a part of the foot, it was supposed to have been saved by a mirac- 
ulous interposition of Providence." 

Mrs. Trollope, who, in 1833, visited "Waterloo, says: "The ruin of the chateau 
of Hougoumont is, I think, the most interesting point of all. The struggle was 
there, perhaps, the fiercest ; the battered walls, the dismantled and fire-stained chapel, 
which remained standing through all the wreck, and where they show a crucifix 
that, as they say, repeatedly caught fire but never was consumed, the traces of attack 
upon attack — still renewed but still resisted — alto;ether bring the whole scene before 
one with tremendous force. In the garden of Hougoumont is one solitary tomb, 
raised over the body of Captain Blacknor. He was buried exactly where he fell — 

' With his martial cloak around him.' 

and his monument is the only one so erected." 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— BELGIUM. 



529 




530 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

The city of Antwerp stands on the east or right bank of the Scheldt, in north 
latitude 51° 14', and about twenty-five miles in a straight line nearly due north of 
Brussels, the present capital of Belgium. The Flemish name for this place is Ant- 
werpen ; the Spaniards, who once possessed it, called it Amberes, and the French 
Anvers. Few places are more favorably situated for foreign commerce than Antwerp. 
The river opposite the town is from 1,500 to 2,000 feet wide, and admits the largest 
ships to come up to Antwerp, and to enter the docks and canals. From Antwerp to the 
mouth of the river is about fifteen miles, and this space is lined with forts. In the 
Dutch boundary map between Holland and Belgium of the date 1S31 (the latest 
which we have seen), there are no fewer than six forts marked on the east bank of 
the Scheldt below Antwerp, and as many on the west bank. At its mouth the 
Scheldt divides into two large arms, which encircle the islands of North and South 
Beveland, with the island of Walcheren, in which are the strong towns of Middle- 
burg, and Vlissingen, called by the English, Flushing. The more northerly arm is 
called the East Scheldt ; the other is named Hond or West Scheldt, through which 
vessels approach to Antwerp. 

Antwerp is strongly fortified on the land-side like most of the old Belgian towns, 
and has also on the south a remarkably strong citadel, in the form of a pentagon, 
which was erected by the duke of Alva, in 1568. During the occupation of Antwerp 
by the French, in the reign of Napoleon, the works of the citadel were strengthened, 
and several additions made by which its outward form has been altered-; and it is 
now considered able to make a formidable resistance. The principal houses of 
Antwerp are built of a kind of sandstone, brought about ten miles from the town ; 
the streets are generally wide, and on the whole it may be called a well-built city. 
It is said to contain twenty-six public places, or squares (of which the Meer, the 
finest of all, contains a palace built by Napoleon), seventy public buildings, and one 
hundred and sixty-two streets. The chief public buildings are the Bourse or Ex- 
change, said to be the pattern after which those of London and Amsterdam were 
built, though it is superior to either of them. The pillars that support its galleries 
are of marble. The town-house is also reckoned a fine structure. But the glory of 
Antwerp is its cathedral, which, in spite of some paltry shops that stick to its walls, 
strikes every stranger with admiratioq when he views the noble elevation of its 
steeple, and the costly decorations of its interior. The steeple is of stone, and four 
hundred feet high, according to those accounts which make it least ; but others 
make it as much as four hundred and fifty feet, which is more than the height of 
Strasburg cathedral. It generally happens that the dimensions of all large edifices 
are very incorrectly given by travellers, and, indeed, in all books of ordinary reference ; 
and we can therefore affirm nothing positive as to the height of the Antwerp spire. 
When the spectator has ascended to the highest point that is accessible, he sees all 
the city spread out like a map before him, while by the aid of a small glass his eye 
travels over the flat plains of Belgium and Holland for forty miles in every direction. 
To the south, over a thickly-wooded country, the eye can reach to Mechlin, and 
sjill further beyond it to Louvain and Brussels. Toward the north and northwest 
Fort Lillo on the Scheldt, and far beyond it, to the northwest, the shipping of 
Flushing and the spire of Middleburg, in the centre of the island of Walcheren, are 
:distinctly visible. The latter object is near forty miles from Antwerp in a straight 
iline. To the north and the northeast stretches the dreary flat through which the 
traveller must find his way to Bergen op Zoom, and Breba. 

The length of this magnificent cathedral is said to be five hundred feet (we do not 
vouch for the accuracy of the dimensions), and the width two hundred and thirty or ■ 
forty feet. It contains one hundred and twenty-five pillars. Rubens, who was a native 
of Antwerp, painted two pictures for the high altar, which are reckoned among his 
master-pieces. One of these, the Descent from the Cross, which is admirable for 
the skilful grouping of the figures, is probably familiar to many of our readers from 
engravings and plaster casts. These pictures had a journey to Paris at the time when 
so many works of art were summoned to adorn the French capital, but they have 
since been restored to the place for which they were originally intended. Among 
the great improvements which Bonaparte began at Antwerp, are the new quay 
and basin, which, though grand works, are said by some travellers to lose much of 
their importance when compared with the docks of Liverpool, or the great docks of 
London. Antwerp, like many continental cities, excels the English towns in the 
decorations of trees. Along the whole line of the new quay a row of elms is planted, 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— BELGIUM. 



531 




532 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

which some travellers who visited Antwerp in 1817, inform us, had heen done with 
such success that " out of several hundreds lately planted, only two or three had 
failed to grow." The largest trees about the town had been felled in 1814, 
when Carnot was preparing to make an obstinate defence in favor of his imperial 
master. 

Antwerp, besides its connexion with the sea, has a ready water communication, 
either by the Scheldt or canals, with Mechlin, Louvain, and Brussels, on the south 
and east, and with Ghent and Bruges on the west. In 1831 its population was 
77,199, according to the Dutch map above referred to, which has the population of 
the chief towns included in it marked on his face. Before the late revolution in 
1830, the trade of Antwerp was considerable ; though it must doubtless have suffered 
very much since that period, in consequence of the unsettled state of the Belgic 
question. In 1829, near one thousand ships entered its ports. Antwerp has also 
extensive manufactures of black sewing-silk, linen and woollen cloth, silk, sugar- 
refining, &c. 

Antwerp has been the scene of many remarkable political events, and has often 
suffered the evils attendant on war. As late as 1830 it sustained considerable damage 
from the cannonading directed against it by the Dutch troops in the citadel. 

Many of our readers have probably read of the great siege of Antwerp in 1585, by 
the prince of Parma, against whom it held out for fourteen months. The prince, in 
order to command the navigation of the river, built strong projecting piers on each 
side, which were mounted with cannon ; while the intermediate space, which was 
thus rendered comparatively narrow, was filled up with boats chained together, and 
firmly moored. This enormous work, which withstood all the floods of winter, was 
destroyed by the fireshipsof AntAverp. One of these horrible machines, in its course 
down the river, struck against one of the piers, and its explosion burst through the 
bridge of boats, destroyed the pier, and blew up the men and ammunition with which 
it was loaded. In spite, however, of the courage and obstinacy of the Antwerpers, 
they were at last compelled to surrender to the Spanish troops. The history of this 
once flourishing city exhibits rather a melancholy retrospect. Reduced to a popula- 
tion of less than 80,000, with its trade diminished, and an enemy in its citadel, we 
can not help looking back to its flourishing days of the early part of the sixteenth 
century, when 200,000 inhabitants and strangers are said to have filled its streets, 
and the commerce of the world was in its harbor. The names of such illustrious 
painters as Rubens, Van Dyke, and Jordaens, have shed a lustre on it,as a school of 
painting ; and among its illustrious citizens we may mention the name of the early 
geographer, Abraham Ortelius. 

FuRNES. — The ancient town of Fumes in West Flanders is situated on the frontiers 
of Belgium, about three miles from the seacoast, and eleven from Dunkirk. It lies 
on the route very commonly pursued by travellers from Calais or Boulogne to Ostend, 
Brussels, and other parts of Belgium. Our engraving, from an original sketch, 
represents the west view of the place, with its very picturesque-looking houses, and 
its Palais de Justice, and behind these the cathedral church of St. Walburgh, all 
combining, in their general arrangement and harmonious contrasts of outline and 
color, to form an attractive picture. The cathedral, which is built of small red 
bricks, contains many curiosities. In the Palais de Justice are tried all the minor 
causes and disputes which arise in the surrounding districts, the decisions generally 
appearing to be so satisfactory to the litigants, that the interference of the superior 
court at Brussels is scarcely ever desired. Among the houses of the place are some 
very remarkable-looking ones, built by the Spaniards during the reign of Albert and 
Isabella, which are still in good preservation, and interesting, apart from their age, 
for their peculiar elegance of style. The country around Furnes is considered one 
of the most fertile districts of Belgium ; and, which unfortunately is not always a 
consequence thereof, the inhabitants, who are chiefly farmers, are wealthy. The 
pastures are peculiarly rich, and produce the very finest butter. Furnes supplies 
many of the adjacent provinces with corn, and a brisk trade is carried on in other 
articles of agricultural produce. The town contains tanneries, breweries, ropewalks, 
salt-refineries, and oil-naills. Its commerce is much facilitated by the canals, a mode 
of transport peculiarly fitted for so flat a country, and by means of which it freely 
communicates with every part of Belgium and France. Still there is not so much 
business done in Furnes as one might expect from the fruitfulness of the soil of the 
neighboring lands, and from its general capabilities for trade. Provisions are very 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— BELGIUM. 



533 




534 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 



cheap ; the common price of" meat is only five pence per pound, consisting of eigliteen 
ounces, and bread is one third less in price than wiih us. 

Nearly all the inhabitants profess the catholic religion. In one of the streets 
leading out of the place is a catholic college, where about sixty students are instructed 
in the elementary departments of classical literature and mathematics. A literary 
and political society, at first formed by the professional residents of Fumes, but now 
including the tradesmen and farmers generally, is conducted with spirit and liberality. 
Strangers, whose stay does not exceed six months, are admitted and registered in the 
books of the institution by members, free of expense, and have free access to the 
library, with the perusal of several'daily papers. 

The ancient writers of the country assert that Lydericb, the first forester of 
Flanders, was the founder of the town of Fumes. The district, at the period of his 
accession, was in a very wild and uncivilized state, large numbers of its inhabitants 
living only by plunder and rapine. Lyderick resolved to repress the acts of violence 
which Avere being constantly committed on the persons and property of the neighbor- 
ing residents, and to teach this lawless people habits of peace, order, and industry. 
To protect the honest and the laborious, he punished with severity the idle and the 
dissolute. He built spacious prisons in and near the town, of vi^hich various caves 
and subterranean passages still remain, near the old churchyard at the back of the 
Palais de Justice. The more effectually to promote his objects, he invited from different 
parts, families well acquainted with the practices of agriculture, to diffuse by their 
example the knowledge and the habits so necessary for the well-being of his people. 
In a few years the soil lost its wild and barren appearance, and presented every- 
where evidences of the richest fertility. From this event Furnes derives its name, 
which, called in Flemish Veurne, signifies a furrow: chosen, in all probability, as a 
significant type of the means by which so important a change had been wrought. 
According to the same authorities, Furnes, at first close to the sea, was entirely de- 
stroyed during the Norman invasion, and rebuilt on its present site, by Baldwin, sur- 
named the Iron-arm, in the year 869. On the plains of Furnes a battle was fought 
in 1297, between Count Robert of Artois, who commanded the forces of Philip the 
Fair, and Count Guy of Flanders, the leader of .the English troops on the part of 
Edward I. Furnes has frequently been in the possession of the French : Louis XV. 
took it in 1744, and held it till the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ; and at the beginning 
of the French revolution it also passed into their possession, and formed a portion 
of the department of the Lyz till 1814. Pjior to this, the fortifications of Furnes 
caused it to be looked upon as a place of military importance ; since the peace these 
have been demolished. The town generally is well-built, and contained in 1830, 
seven hundred and fifty-six houses, nine hundred and fifty-four families, and four 
thousand two hundred and fifty-three individuals. The roads from Furnes to the 
neighboring towns are paved in the centre with small stones of an oblong shape, and 
have generally rows of trees planted on each side, which are not merely beautiful in 
themselves as foliage, but tend greatly to relieve the dull monotony of appearance 
these roads would otherwise exhibit from their general straightness, and the level 
character of the country they intersect. 




Coronation of Loais le Gros. 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— HOLLAND. 535 



CHAPTER XXHL— HOLLAND. 

Holland, which assumed its present circumscribed territorial boundaries at the 
revolution in 1830, forms a very important, though not a very powerful European 
state. 

Holland was formerly the first maritime country in the world, and its commerce 
is still considerable ; but, instead of being the carriers for other nations, the Dutch 
are now principally venders of their own agricultural and manufacturing produce. 
The extent of seacoast is considerable, as it reaches from the mouth of the West 
Scheldt to the Ems. It is also indented by a series of lakes, which in reality gives it 
a greater extent of water communication than our own sea-girt isle. 

Holland extends from fifty-one degrees ten minutes to fifty-three degrees thirty min- 
utes of north latitude, and from three degrees twenty minutes to seven degrees ten 
minutes of east longitude. In the northern provinces of this kingdom there are nei- 
ther mountains nor hills, to relieve the eye from the monotony of one dull, continued 
flat surface ; and when viewed from the top of a tower or steeple, the country appears 
like a vast marshy plain, intersected in all directions by an infinity of canals and 
ditches. The prospect is not, however, altogether uninteresting, though wanting in 
what we deem the first features of picturesque beauty, as it exhibits vast meadows 
of the freshest verdure, and covered with numerous herds of cattle. The number of 
barks passing in every direction also tend to enliven the scene, and the close succes- 
sion of farms, villages, and towns, show at once the industry and wealth of the 
country. 

The physical features of this country have been entirely changed by the formation 
of the Zuyder Zee. From that irruption, the islands of Texel, Vlieland, Schelling, 
and Ameland, are the only remains of some of the finest portions of ancient Holland. 
It was in the tenth century that the mouths of the Scheldt were expanded into broad 
arms of the sea, forming the islands of Beveland, Walcheren, and Schowen ; and so 
lately as the fifteenth century, a great salt-water lake was suddenly formed to the 
southeast of Dort, overwhelming seventy-two villages and no less than 100,000 inhab- 
itants. To prevent a recurrence of these dreadful calamities, the Dutch began to 
secure their coast by the construction of dikes, or mounds of earth, the erection of 
which has been justly considered one of the greatest efforts of human industry. The 
great rivers are bordered by similar dikes, and provided at convenient distances 
with sluices, by means of which the country can be laid under water on the approach 
of an enemy. 

The climate of Holland is humid, and the weather variable. The lower parts of 
the country suffer much from fogs, which would be extremely injurious to health but 
.for the dry northern and easterly winds of the winter months. 

The produce of the pasture-lands of this country is exported to every part of Eu- 
rope, and Great Britain furnishes a ready market for the surplus of butter and eggs. 
Flax, hemp, tobacco, and hops, are also grown to a considerable extent. 

The doctrines of the great reformer, Calvin, are generally received throughout 
Holland; but there are chapels for every variety and form of Christian worship 
thickly spread over the country. 

The history of Holland is intimately connected with that of the Netherlands gen- 
erally, and it may be enough to state, that, in their early struggles for liberty, we find 
an heroic devotion to the cause of their religion and country, which may be said to 
place the Dutch on a footing with their brethren in Switzerland. 

We may now more especially notice the provinces of North and South Holland, 
which present the extraordinary spectacle of immense districts redeemed from the 
inroads of a turbulent ocean, to which the power of man has completely set bounds. 
This country was originally subject to the most degrading state of vassalage; but 
commerce has had the effect of elevating the lower classes, and, in some cases, of 
raising to the highest pinnacle of power men who had previously figured but as arti- 
sans and tradesmen. 

The whole of North and South Holland is a continued flat, and lies so low as to be 



536 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

under the level of the sea at high water ; the tide is prevented from flowing in by 
means of dikes and natural sandbanks. These dikes are of great extent, generally 
thirty feet above the level of the adjoining land, and mostly twenty or thirty feet in 
breadth at the top, and the imposts necessary to keep them in repair are very heavy. 
The numerous canals and ditches which traverse the province in all directions are 
likewise provided with dikes, and serve not only to promote internal communication, 
but to drain the country of superfluous water. In spite of all these precautions, how- 
ever, the sea in very stormy weather occasionally breaks through its bounds, and 
spreads terror and devastation throughout whole districts. 

The west coast is comparatively safe from this dreadful calamity, from its natural 
barriers of downs or sandhills. In addition to the two great rivers which water this 
province in common with the rest of the Netherlands, viz., the Rhine and the Maese, 
Holland has many smaller rivers peculiar to itself, such as the Vecht, the Amstel, 
the Zaam, the Schie, the Kotte, and the Spaaren ; but they have so little current, as 
to be more properly canals or water-courses. The principal lake is that of Haerlem. 
Of hills there is not one in the province, nor an eminence, except the downs by the 
seaside. 

Holland was formerly subject to the government of counts or earls, and exposed to 
all the evils of military contests with the Frieslanders on the east, and the Flemings 
on the south. In the fifteenth century, Holland and the rest of the Low Countries 
were happily relieved from this petty warfare, the whole becoming, by marriage, 
subject to the house of Burgundy ; and passing some time after, along with the other 
dominions of that house, to Austria, an exemption from misgovernment was all that 
was required to diff'use the blessings of industry over a country possessing such ample 
means of navigation. Amsterdam then became a populous and industrious city ; and 
it is a great mistake to imagine that the Dutch provinces owed the whole of their 
prosperity to their emancipation from Spain. That grand event added indeed greatly 
to it, but the foundation goes much further back. After the accomplishment of their 
deliverance, the great political misfortune of Holland consisted in a division into two 
parties, one in favor of, and the other against, the ascendency of the house of Orange. 
The great families, and the bulk of the lower orders, constituted the strength of the 
former ; that of the latter lay in the middling classes, particularly in the towns. The 
party of the house of Orange has in general been predominant ; the most remarkable 
interregnum was the twenty years previous to the death of De Witt, in ]672, when 
the young prince was under age, and the opposing party headed by a statesman of 
the "first talent. Other suspensions, but of less importance, took place previous to the 
years 1748 and 1787. In 1795, the opposition, or, as they are styled, the patriotic 
party, entertained the hope that the occupation of Holland by the French, and the 
liberal promises of that government, would enable them to realize their long-cher- 
ished expectations of a free government ; and the changes that took place were 
praiseworthy, as far as depended on the Dutch. No retaliation was practised on the 
Orangists, and the discordant machinery of seven provincial assemblies was moulded 
into the more harmonious form of one great representative body. 

According to the almanac of Saxe-Gotha. the population of the kingdom of Hol- 
land now amounts to 2,444,550 persons, and it has a military force of 43,000 men. 

Amsterdam is the largest, wealthiest, and most populous city of Holland, although 
it is not the seat of government, and only ranks as the capital of the province of 
North Holland. It is situated on the south bank of the Ij or Y, a gulf of the Zuyder 
Zee, in fifty -two degrees twenty-three minutes north latitude, and four degrees fifty-four 
minutes east longitude. The name of the town was originally Ainstelredamme, which 
signifies the dam or dike of the Amstel, a river which in part runs through the city, dis- 
tributed into several branches, all of which terminate in the Y, which is so called from 
its figure. _ _ . 

The origin of Amsterdam is not of remote antiquity. In the early part of the 
thirteenth century it is known to have consisted merely of a few huts inhabited by 
fishermen. Its name first occurs in a letter of Count Floris, in the year 1275, in 
which he exempts the town of Amstelredamme from the payment of certain tolls or 
taxes. Until 1482 it appears only to have been surrounded by a weak palisade; 
but then a wall of brick was built to protect it from the incursions of the inhabitants 
of Utrecht, who were continually at variance with the Hollanders, and looked with 
an evil eye on the rising city. The history of Amsterdam would, indeed, for many 
years, strikingly illustrate the truth, that next to strife at home, strife between near 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— HOLLAND, 537 

neighbors is the most frightful and disgusting. We willingly pass over the details 
of wrong and outrage with which this period is replete, and proceed to state that, 
after the states of Zeeland and Holland united, in 1578, with Brabant and Flanders, 
in the pacification of Ghent, the advantages which Amsterdam offered for commercial 
enterprise attracted crowds of strangers to the town, not only from the other provinces, 
but from all farts of Europe ; in consequence of which it began to assume that com- 
mercial superiority which had previously belonged to Antwerp, and gradually at- 
tained that wealth and splendor which it so long afterward maintained. The 
prosperity of this great city declined during the wars and troubles of the fifty years 
preceding 181'i ; it appears since to have revived, but it has not regained, and can 
not, perhaps, be expected to regain, its former relative importance. These latter 
facts may be illustrated by the statement, that the population of Amsterdam was 
230,000 in 1785 ; 180,000 in 1814 ; and 202,000 in 1830. 

The impulse given to the prosperity of Amsterdam at the period we have mention- 
ed rendered it necessary greatly to enlarge the city. Accordingly we find that, in the 
year 1675, it had increased by one half more than its former size — and was then 
brought to its present extent. The little alteration it has received during the lapse 
of the long subsequent period is very remarkable, and is indicated by the fact, that 
the -stranger finds the plans which were made one hundred and fifty years since 
quite as accurate guides as they were through the streets and to all the remarkable 
objects which the town offers. It at present covers a surface of about eighteen 
thousand seven hundred and ninety geometrical feet, and is said to be larger than 
Haerlem, Leyden, Delft, Rotterdam, and Dordrecht, together, although these are all 
considerable towns. It is nine and a half miles in circumference, and is surrounded 
by a ditch eighty feet wide, full of running water, and with a rampart faced with 
brick, having twenty bastions, on each of which a windmill has been placed. 
Toward the land the town has eight magnificent gates of stone, and one toward the 
shore. The fortifications are now much neglected, and have been partly converted 
into public walks. 

The town of Amsterdam itself, in the simple circumstances of its existence, is one 
of the most striking monuments of human industry and power which the world 
affords. The adjacent country, along the banks of the Y, is four or five feet below 
the level of the river, from the irruption of which it is preserved by massy and 
ponderous dikeg ; and only an immense dam of the same kind secures the town itself 
from inundation, with which it seems every moment threatened by the brimful canals 
and waters which surround it. Canals, indeed, intersect the town itself in every 
direction, dividing it into ninety islands, which are connected by means of two 
hundred and ninety bridges, some of stone and some of wood : the river Amstel 
itself divides the town into two parts, the eastern or old, and the western or new part ; 
the communication between which is by a bridge, partly built of brick and partly 
of stone, with thirty-five arches. This bridge is about six hundred and ten feet long, 
sixty-four and a half wide, and furnished with iron balustrades. The largest ships 
may pass through the eleven central arches. The borders of these canals are 
usually planted with trees, which, with the stagnant and feculent state of much of 
the water, is reasonably thought to be prejudicial to the public health, and to afford 
a sufficient solution of the fact, that mortality in Amsterdam is, in proportion to the 
population, greater than in any other European city. The town itself is, indeed, 
built in the midst of a salt-marsh. In consequence of this, the foundation of all the 
houses and public buildings is formed by driving piles, of from fifty to sixty feet in 
length, through the swampy ground, until they rest firmly on a solid bank of sand 
below the morass. The upper ends of the piles are then sawed to a level, and thick 
planks are nailed to them, on which the masonry is constructed. This renders the 
foundation by far the most expensive part of an ordinary building. Structures of this 
description are not nearly so precarious as the inexperienced might imagine. Some 
buildings have declined very much from the perpendicular, but are considered quite 
as secure from falling as before ; they are not thought equally secure from sinking, 
in case the sand should give way on which the piles rest. An event of this kind 
happened a few years ago, when a stack of warehouses, heavily laden with corn, 
sunk and totally disappeared. This mode of foundation gave occasion to the witti- 
cism of Erasmus, who said that in his country great multitudes of people lived upon 
the tops of trees. 

The streets of Amsterdam are in general very narrow. Many that contain the 



538 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

houses of the most opulent merchants are not more than seventeen feel wide. There 
are, however, some very fine streets: Kiezer's gragt, or Emperor's street; Heeren 
gragt, or Lord's street ; and Prissen's gragt, or Prince's street, are upward of one 
hundred and forty feet Avide, and are lined with houses the splendor of which would 
do honor to any town in Europe. All the streets are paved with brick, and a few 
of them have raised footpaths for passengers ; but as wheel-carria^s are neither 
numerous nor are allowed to be driven with speed, the ways are nearly as safe as 
the flag-stone pavements of London. Most of the private houses are built of brick, 
painted and ornamented with different colors. Their exterior is usually plain ; the 
interior of the houses, however, is sufficiently splendid, decorated very much in the 
French style, and the sides of the rooms are generally painted with landscapes in 
oil-colors. Having said thus much of the city in general, we shall devote the re- 
mainder of our space to its public buildings and institutions. 

The largest and most stately edifice, not only in Amsterdam but in the kingdom 
of Holland, is the stadthouse, or townhall, which appears so conspicuously in the 
centre of our engraving. It was begun in 1648, and was finally completed in 1655, 
at a cost of fifteen hundred thousand dollars — an enormous sum for that time, but 
which ceases to surprise when it is considered, first, that it rests upon thirteen thou- 
sand six hundred and ninety-five massive trees, or piles ; and, then, that the build- 
ing — which is two hundred and eighty-two feet in length, two hundred and fifty-five 
feei in depth, and one hundred end sixteen feet high — is constructed of a material 
which is not to be found in the country. With the exception of the ground-floor, 
which is of brick, it is all built of freestone. Notwithstanding its prodigious size, 
the stadthouse is not very magnificent in its external appearance. The front is in- 
deed ornamented with several statues of excellent execution ; but most of them are 
lost in the view, except some fine bronze figures of Justice, Wealth, and Plenty, 
together with a colossal statue of Atlas, upholding the world, which appears upon 
the building. The structure is surmounted by a round tower, which rises fifty feet 
above the roof, and which contains a great number of bells, the largest of them 
weighing between six and seven thousand pounds, and their chimes are remarkably 
harmonious. The entrance into this building is by seven doors, intended to represent 
the seven provinces. The omission of a grand entrance is said to be owing to the 
cautious foresight of the burgomasters who superintended the erection, who thought 
that, in case of popular tumult, the mob might thus be prevented from rushing in. 
The interior of the edifice is exceedingly superb ; all the chambers being highly 
ornamented with marbles, statues, and paintings. There is a large magazine of 
arms on the second floor, which extends the whole length of the building, and con- 
tains a curious and valuable collection of ancient and modern Dutch weapons. On 
the top of the building there are six large cisterns of water, intended as a supply in 
case of fire, to prevent which all the chimneys are lined with copper. One of the 
courts of the stadthouse was occupied as a prison, on two sides of which, below the 
ground, are the dungeons, the state of which seemed hardly compatible with the 
mild spirit of the penal code of Holland. We believe that imprisonment is usually 
very severe in that country ; but this may be accounted for by the fact that life is 
rarely taken as a punishment for crime, and that the prisons therefore contain many 
criminals, who, in most other countries, would have suffered death. The treasures 
of the famous bank of Amsterdam, the establishment of which, in 1609, so materially 
contributed to the prosperity of the town, were formerly deposited in strong apart- 
ments on the ground-floor of the stadthouse. Before the war with France, it was 
supposed to contain the largest quantity of bullion in the world ; the precious metals 
heaped up there being estimated at not less than two hundred millions of dollars. 
The French, however, were grievously disappointed when, after their entrance into 
Amsterdam, it was found that, instead of the immense treasures which the bank was 
reputed to contain, the deposites of cash had been lent out by the directors to public 
bodies, whose bonds were found there in great abundance. Nevertheless, it is to this 
day true that, in proportion to its population, there is no city in Europe which con- 
tains so large an amount of disposable capital as Amsterdam ; and it is probably 
more owing to this circumstance than to any other that it continues prosperous under 
the altered circumstances of the times. The stadthouse is now used as a palace, 
to which purpose it was first appropriated by Louis Bonaparte, when king of Hol- 
land. 

The Exchange, so long famous in the mercantile world, is a plain but stately fabric 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— HOLLAND. 



539 




540 SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 

of freestone, covered with tile, and is in length two hundred and thirty feet, and 
one hundred and forty in breadth. Twenty-six marble columns support its galleries, 
which are entered by a superb staircase, leading from the gate. The building is 
fitted to contain four thousand five hundred persons, and is daily resorted to after 
mid-day by those concerned in mercantile business. 

The church of St. Nicholas, or the old church, is of considerable antiquity, but 
does not claim particular notice in a general account of the town. The new church 
is, however, a remarkably fine structure, and is, by the Dutch at least, numbered 
among the finest churches in Europe. It is three hundred and fifty feet in length and 
two hundred and ten feet wide at the transepts ; the upper part rests on fifty-two 
pillars of hard stone, and the church is lighted by seventy-five large windows, some of 
which are finely painted. The pulpit and organ are much admired. The former is 
adorned with various specimens of sculpture ; and the organ has fifty-two whole 
stops, besides half-stops, with two rows of keys for the feet and three rows for the 
hand, and a set of pipes that imitate with admirable effect a chorusof human voices. 
The choir of the church contains a marble monument of the great Dutch admiral 
De Ruyter. 

Amsterdam has three theatres, and other places of amusement such as are usually 
found in cities of similar extent. It contains also rather more literary and scientific 
institutions than might at first view be expected in a place so exclusively commercial. 
That called " Felix Meritis" is the principal : it is supported by private subscriptions, 
and is held in a large building, containing some fine apartments devoted to philosophy, 
music, and the arts. 

Some of the public institutions of Amsterdam are very remarkable, and claim a 
brief notice in this place. The "rasphuis" is a place in which criminals, whose 
ofi'ences are not capital, are employed to saw logs of wood ; and when they are 
indolent or refractory, they are shut up in a cellar into which water is allowed to 
run, so that if they do not work at a pump which is fixed there they must be drowned. 
It is, however, seldom necessary to resort to this mode of punishment. The 
" spinhuis," or workhouse, is a very singular establishment. Iq this building one 
part is devoted to women whose ofi'ences are not of an aggravated character, and 
another to convicts who have been guilty of more serious offences. They are kept 
strictly apart, and the manner in which they are treated is very different : but they 
are all engaged in various useful employments. Young ladies, of respectable or even 
high families, are sometimes sent to this place on account of undutiful behavior or 
domestic ofiences, and are there obliged to put on a distinctive dress, and work a 
certain number of hours every day. Husbands who have to complain of the ex- 
travagance of their wives may send them to the spinhuis to acquire more sober 
habits; and, on the other hand, a wife who brings a well-authenticated complaint 
of misconduct against her husband may have him accommodated with lodgings in 
the same comprehensive establishment, under the roof of which a great number of 
poor children are also maintained and educated. The hospitals and other charitable 
establishments of the city are very numerous, and are maintained partly by voluntary 
contributions, and partly by taxes imposed on the public diversions. 

Letden is a large and beautiful city in the kingdom of Holland. It stands on a 
branch of the Rhine, and was, even in the time of Ptolemy, a place of considerable 
importance. Leyden did not rank very high in the political or military annals of 
Holland during the middle ages, although a very ancient mole and castle in its cen- 
tre, the erection of which is by many attributed "to the Romans, and by others to the 
Saxons, shows that it was even then considered as a position sufficiently important 
for establishing a place of defence ; but its name stands high in the history of litera- 
ture. The university of Leyden long took the lead in the west of Europe, as a supe- 
rior place of instruction in several departments of liberal education. The circumstan- 
ces connected with its foundation have much of the character of romance: — 

During the war carried on by the Hollanders against the despotic government of 
Spain, in defence of their religion and liberties, this city embraced the cause of free- 
dom, and was consequently besieged by its former masters. For a long period the 
city held out with heroic pertinacity. The women lined the ramparts, and performed 
all the duties of soldiers, animated by one whose name was Kenava, a woman of un- 
daunted spirit; she was present, with her companions, at all the sallies made on the 
enemy. At length, however, famine threatened to effect what the sword of the ene- 
my had vainly endeavored to accomplish. On the failure of their bread, the garrison 



CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— HOLLAND. 54t 

lived on herbs and roots, and the bodies of their horses and other animals. When 
these could no longer be procured, they had recourse to a kind of food prepared from 
the hides of the slaughtered cattle. At length, when this miserable resource was 
nearly exhausted, a dawning hope of relief appeared. A communication was received, 
through the medium of carrier-pigeons, that the Dutch government, despairing of 
their relief by any less desperate means, had determined to break down the dikes 
and overflow the country, so as to force the besieging army to retire, and then to send 
a squadron of provision ships across the inundation to supply them in their extremity. 
The dikes were accordingly opened : the waters of the ocean rushed in, and the whole 
surrounding country was inundated ; but, to their inexpressible disappointment, the 
waters rose but a few feet, so as to inconvenience, but not dislodge the besiegers. 
All hope was now at an end. The famished inhabitants could see from the walls 
the ships destined for their succor, but they also saw that their approach was impos- 
sible ; and the blockade was carried on more vigorously than ever. For three weeks 
they still held out ; at length, overcome with despair, they rushed in crowds to the 
governor, calling on him no longer to persevere in a useless defence, but to surrender, 
and free them at least from the horrors of starvation. The governor positively re- 
fused : "I have sworn," said he, " to defend the town against the Spaniards with my 
life ; I will keep my oath. Food I have none, I can not give it you ; but if my death 
be of any use, take my life. I shall die contented, if the sacrifice of it shall aid in 
protracting your defence." The crowd looked on each other in silent wonder, and 
one by one retired, submitting in tranquil despondency to the agonies of hunger, 
rather than swerve from the noble example set them by the governor. The equinox 
now arrived, a season" when every Dutchman who resides in the vicinity of the dikes 
trembles for the security of his person and property. The storms raged with peculiar 
violence : the dikes, that had resisted the ordinary pressure of the sea, gave way at 
once, and the whole accumulated waters of the ocean flowed in without obstruction, 
overwhelming the banks, the batteries, and the forts of the Spaniards, and swallow- 
ing up all who were not fortunate enough to save themselves by timely flight. In 
the meantime, the little fleet sailed triumphantly over the surface of that element 
which was dealing destruction on the enemy. It entered the town without opposi- 
tion. The wants of the garrison were relieved, and the besieging army relinquished 
the blockade as hopeless. Had two days more elapsed before this providential inter- 
ference, the scanty supply of their miserable provisions would have totally failed, 
and the Avhole of the garrison must have perished. The prince of Orange, as a re- 
ward for their unparalleled defence, gave them a choice between an immunity of taxes 
for a stated period, or the founding of a university in their city. To their immortal 
honor they chose the latter, and the university was established. 

The new place of learning soon acquired a high character. It exacted no exclu- 
sive tests ; it demanded no oaths ; its professors were of acknowledged eminence in 
the departments for which they were elected ; its examinations were strict and im- 
partial ; its expenses were moderate ; its very position, in a town marked for propri- 
ety of manners and advantage of situation, aided its progress. The wars with which 
this, like every other part of the country, was too frequently visited, diminished the 
number of students, but did not destroy the institution. 

Among the many men of learning connected with the university, Boerhaave stands 
conspicuous. He was one of the first who extricated medicine from the mass of em- 
piricism and mysticism which oppressed it, and elevated it to its proper rank among 
the sciences. The remains of this great man are interred in the church of St. Peter, 
in the town, and an appropriate monument has been erected over them. It consists 
of a pedestal, supporting an urn, and surrounded by six figures, four of which repre- 
sent the several periods of human life, and the two others the sciences most indebted 
to his labors — medicine and chymistry. The same church contains the tombs of 
Kerkhoven, professor of theology ; of Bockenberg, the historian ; of Meerman, the 
bibliographer ; of professors Camper and Lusac ; and of other distinguished charac- 
ters connected with the university. 

The number of professors is twenty-one : four of theology, four of law, four of 
medicine, four of philosophy, and five of languages. The annual salary of each 
averages about one thousand dollars, besides a house, and the fees of pupils, which 
are very moderate. The students reside in private lodgings, and the general period 
of studies extends to five years. The government of the university is in the rector, 
who' is chosen out of three persons returned by the senate to the states: the senate 



542 



SCENES AND SKETCHES IN 




CONTINENTAL EUROPE.— HOLLAND. 543 

consists of the professors. And on extraordinary occasions the senate and rector are 
directed by curators, who are agents for the states. 

Printing, particularly that of classic authors, was carried on to a great extent in 
Leyden. The Elzevirs, whose editions are deemed essential to complete a well- 
selected library in the learned languages, executed most of their works here. The 
public library is very rich in manuscripts, which comprehend those left by Scaliger, 
Vossius, and Erpenius; as also for the many specimens of oriental literature with 
which it abounds. Golius, on his return from the East, and who afterward filled the 
Arabic professorship in the university with great reputation, enriched this valuable 
depository of learning with many Arabic, Turkish, Chaldean, and Persian writers. 
The total of the manuscripts is said to exceed 8,000 ; the printed books amount to 
more than 40,000 volumes. 

The celebrated painter Gerard Douw was a native of Leyden, and Rembrandt was 
born in its neighborhood. One of its churches contains the remains of another well- 
known painter, Vanderwerfe. 

Though the public buildings are not peculiarly remarkable either for number or 
magnificence, the stadthouse may be considered as highly worthy of notice. It is an 
edifice of great extent, executed in the Gothic style, and surmounted by numerous 
small spires. Several fine paintings are seen in its apartments, among which is the 
portrait of John Bucold, better known by the name of John of Leyden, and that of 
his wife ; and also a picture of his triumphant entry into Munster. 

Leyden contains between thirty and forty thousand inhabitants, and is situated 
twenty-two miles southwest of Amsterdam. 



In a recent volume,* which has been extensively distributed among the people of 
these United States, and which has uniformly been received with favor, we spoke 
of the principal features of England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the British isl- 
ands, &c. : their position, picturesque views, public buildings and private edifices ; 
their antiquities, natural and artificial curiosities; the costumes, habits, and. man- 
ners of the people, and ten thousand other details of great and abiding interest to 
all those who are proud to claim their descent from the Anglo-Saxons, and who 
are disposed to admit the fact that the Americans owe much of their devotion to re- 
publican institutions, and the cause of civil and religious liberty, to the spirit inher- 
ited from their fathers. This spirit led to that bond of British liberty, the Magna 
Charta ; that spirit induced the pilgrims to land on Plymouth rock, in 1620 : that 
flame, may it continue to burn brighter and brighter, till the whole earth be warmed 
by its genial influence. 

In the present volume, we have extended our travels in the same manner, and 
with the same views (namely, the amusement and instruction of our readers), upon 
the European continent. And first, to France : we have wandered among the gay 
attractions of the French metropolis— have devoted much time and space to the 
wonders of Paris — the European centre of the refinements, of the arts and sciences — 
the home of Leverrier and Cuvier, and the treasured idol of Napoleon. 

After lingering for a while amid the French provinces, we have come to Pokttj- 
GAL, who is not now what she once was, and to whom the whole world is indebted 
for many maritime discoveries of immense importance. 

Spain, too, that country which patronized Columbus, has not been overlooked — 
Spain, with her forests of olive and cork-trees — her sunny skies, and proud, romantic 
people. 

* This volume is entitled, " Sears' Pictorial Description of England, Scotland, Ireland, 
Wales, and the British Islands, embellished with several hundred Engravings, illustratiug the 
Geological Structare, Natural Curiosities, Druidical and Roman Remains, Monumental Records, 
Cathedrals and other architectural works, Coins, and Costumes, together witla Scenes of Picturesque 
Beauty which abound in those celebrated countries." 

In the above volume we have offered to all classes, at the cheapest rate, a complete description 
of the Parent Land, by the publication of the largest collection of Engravings, with explanatory 
letter-press, that has ever been published in America. This work is intended for the people ; but 
the Know^ledge which it seeks to impart is as scrupulously accurate as if it were exclusively in- 
tended for the most critical antiquary. To describe it, would occupy too much room. It must be 
seen, to be admired ; and read, to be appreciated. Every American will desire a copy, after he has 
seen the beautiful style in which the work is got up. The price of this work is two dollars. 



544 



SKETCHES IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE. 



Next, we have gone to Italy— the scholar's passion, and the painter's pride— It- 
aly, with her classic rums, and her bright sunsets, where the golden clouds linger- 
long after the world has received the farewell of the bright god of day. 

We have spoken, too, of Switzerland, the land of liberty and William Tell— 
the representative of freedom amid the monarchies of Europe— Switzerland 
with its cloud-capped mountains and sparkling waterfalls, its hilly passes and smi- 
ling valleys. 

Nor have we forgotten Belgium or Holland, the country of dikes and canals- 
distinguished for the many works of art which adorn its cabinets and galleries, and 
also for the mercantile spirit of its people; but have attempted, in the brief limits 
which were assigned to us, to give our readers some idea of those interesting coun- 
tries. ^ 

We have said nothing of northern Europe. We have left Norway, Sweden, Ben- 
mark, Russia, Prussia, and Poland. Should a kind public demand it, we may recur 
to these countries on another occasion. 




From a Picture in Holland. 



CIRCULAE FOR FAMILIES. 



SPLENDIDLY EMBELLISHED WORKS, 

PUBLISHED BY 

ROBERT SEARS, 128 NASSAU ST., NEW YORK. 

The Cheapest Illustrated FAMILY BIBLE in the World ! 

Specimen of the Engravings. 




Prfsentation of Moses to Pharaoh. — Ex. II. 



XHr" The attention of the Christian Public is respectfully invited to a careful 
perusal of the Prospectus of this invaluable Work, as publisned in the lollowing pages. 



CIRCULAR FOR FAMILIES. 



BOOHS OF UNIVERSAL UTILITY. 

SEARS' POPULAR PICTORIAL ¥ORKS! 

THE MOST SPLENDIDLY-ILLUSTRATED VOLUMES FOR FAMILIES EVER ISSUED 

ON THE AMERICAN CONTINENT, CONTAINING MORE THAN 

DESIGNED AND EXECUTED BY THE MOST EMINENT ARTISTS OF ENGLAND AND AMERICA. 
1^=" A CAREFUL EXAMINATION ^^ of the the contents of this Circnlar is solicited from all 
person's into whose hands it may fall. 

I. 

A Six-Dollar Book at Half Price ! 

THE CHUlSTiAN'S GIFT FOR 1848. 

JUST PUBLISHED, 

The most splendid Pictorial Work on 

BIBLE HISTORY 

Ever offered to the American public, embellished with 
SEVERAL HUNDRED NEW AND FINE 

IiM(iliWra(Bi. 

The whole Work (two volumes in one), making 
700 large octavo pages, elegantly printed, and bound 
in the most finished style of modern bookmaking, ifl 
offered at the low price of S3 per copy. 

SEARS' NEW AND COMPLETE HISTORY 

OF THE 



HOLY BIBLE 



AS CONTAINED IN THE 

©la antr Neto Eestantents, 

From the Creation of the World to the full Establish- 
ment of Christianity: containing a clear and compre- 
hensive account of every remarkable transaction re- 
corded in the Sacred Scriptures during a period of 
upward of four thousand years : with copious Notes, 
critical and explanatory : forming an 

Illustrated Comineiitary of the Sacred Text. 

Part I.— The Old Testament History. Part II.— 
The New Testament History. 

Ey ROBERT SEARS, 

Aided by the writings of our most celebrated Biblical 
Scholars, and other learned persons, who have made 
the Scriptures their study. Two volumes in one. 

II. 

The following nevy and valuable Illustrated Volume 
consists of 592 pages, large octavo, elegantly bound 
in gilt pictorial muslin, printed from new Long Prim- 
er type. Price S3 50. 

SUNDAY BOOK: 

DESIGNED FOR THE USE OF 

FAMILIES, BIBLE CLASSES. AND SUNDAY 
SCHOOL TEACHERS: 

Derived principally from the Manners and Customs 
of the Jews ; the Rites, Traditions, and Antiquities, 
of Eastern nations, explanatory of many portions 
of the Old and New Testaments ; together with 
interesting descriptions of the principal places 
mentioned in the Bible, illustrated by 

NUMEROUS LANDSCAPE SCENES, &C., 

FROM SKETCHES TAKEN ON THE SPOT. 



III. 

A Companion and Key to English History. 

JUST PUBLISHED, 

A RICH, AMUSING, AND INSTRUCTIVE BOOK, 
Complete in one imperial volume Svo., of 600 pages, ele- 
gantly bound in gilt pictorial muslin. 
Price Tvro Kollars and a half. 
SEARS' PICTORIAL DESCRIPTION OF 

ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, IRELAND, 
WALES, AND THE BRITISH ISLANDS: 

EMBELLISHED WITH 

Several hundred handsome Engravings, 

Illustrating the Geological Structure, Natural Curios- 
ities, Druidical and Roman Remains, Monumental 
Records, Cathedrals and other architectural works, 
Coins, and Costumes ; together with 
SCENES OF PICTURESQUE BEAUTY 

which abound in those celebrated countries. 
%* In the above volume vre have offered to all class- 
es, at the cheapest rate, a complete description of the 
Parent Land, by the publication of the largest collection 
of Engravings, with explanatory letter press, that has 
ever been published in America. Our Work is Intended 
for THE PEOPLE ; but the Knowledge which it seeks 
to impart will be as scrupulously accurate as if it were 
exclusively intended for the most critical antiquary. To 
describe tlie Work would occupy the whole sheet. It 
must be seen to be admired ; and read, to be apprecia- 
ted. Every American will desire a copy, after he has 
seen the beautiful style in which the Work is got up. 

rv. 

The following%nportant and interesting "Work con- 
sists of Five hundred pages octavo, containing SEV- 
ERAL HUNDRED new and beautiful ENGRA- 
VINGS, fine paper, handsomely bound in gilt and 
lettered, and is afforded at the low price of S^ 50. 

SEARS' BIBLE BIOGRAPHY: 

OR 

The Lives and Chai-acters of the principal 
Personages recorded in the Sacred Writings. 

Practicallj' adapted to the Instruction of Youth and 
Private Families : together with an Appendix, coh- 
taining thirty Dissertations on the Evidences of Di- 
vine Revelation, from Timpson's Key to the Bible : 
being a complete summary of Biblical Knowledge, 
carefully condensed and compiled from Scott, Dod- 
dridge, Gill, Patrick, Adam Clarke, Pool, Lowth, 
Home. WaL, Stowe, Robinson, and other eminent 
writers on the Scriptures. 

ROBERT SEARS, EDITOR. 

EMBELLISHED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS, 
Illustrative of Scripture Scenes, Manners, Customs, &c. 



V. 

New and Interesting Pictorial Work. 

JUST PUBLISHED, 

SCENES AND SKETCHES 

IN 

COi\TiNENTAL EUROPE ; 

EMBRACING DESCRIPTIONS OF 

France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Sicily, 
Switzerland, Belgium, and Holland, 

Together with Views and Notices of the principal 
objects of interest in Paris, Rouen, Lisbon, Madrid, 
Barcelona, Pisa, Leghorn, Rome, Naples, Hercu- 
laneum, Pompeii, Psestum, Palermo, Malta, Ven- 
ice, Milan, Geneva, Furnes, Brussels, Tyrol, Ant- 
werp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Waterloo, &c., &c. 

Carefully CStmpihd from \he lest and latest Sources, 

By ROBERT SEARS. 

EMBELLISHEE WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS. 

Complete in one imperial volume 8vo., of 550 pages, ele- 
gantly bound in gilt pictorial muslin. 
Price T-tvo Dollars and. a half. 

This work is intended as a companion to the " Pic- 
torial Description of Great Britain," and will be found 
a valuable aid to every one seeking information re- 
specting the countries described. 



VI. 

SEARS' INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 

A splendidly Illustrated Work, comprising the finest 
series of Embellishments ever presented to the 
American public — in one handsome, large octavo 
volume, of 550 pages, elegantly bound. 
Price only S3 50. 
This splendid volume comprises within itself 
A COMPLETE LIBRARY OF USEFUL AND 

ENTERTAINING KNOWLEDGE, 
condensed in form, familiar in style, and copious in 
information, embracing an extensive range of subjects 
in Literature, Science, and Art. 

vo, 

*^* JUST PUBLISHED— A valuable, illustrated 
Work, for Families, Schools, and Libraries, complete 
in one large and splendid 8vo. volume of 550 pages, 
elegantly bound in muslin, gilt, printed with large 
type, and embellished with beautiful Engravings. 
8^= PRICE «!3 50..,^ 

The title of the Work is as follows : — 

SEARS' PICTORIAL FAMILY LIBRARY, 

OR 

DIGEST OF GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: 

Comprising a complete circle of useful and enter- 
taining information, designed for Family Read- 
ing : compiled from the latest and best authorities, 
and embracing the various divisions of 
HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, LITERATURE, 
GEOGPi^APHY, NATURAL HISTORY, 

AND THE OTHER SCIENCES. 

Illustrated with Numerous Engravings. 



VOI. 

A BOOK FOR EVERY FAMILY! 

To tlie People of America. 

A beautifully-illustrated Volume — purely American 
in its character and design — forming a large and 
handsome octavo, of between Four and Five Hun- 
dred pages : with several hundred Engravings ! 
Retail price S3— bound in muslin, gilt. The title 
of the Works is as follows : — 




With an Account of the Early History of the Coun- 
try, the Constitution of the United States, and a 
Chronological Index. 

Illustrated with several liunared engravings. 



IX 

THE WONDERS OF THE WORLD! 

SECOND SERIES, IN TWO PAKTS : 
PART I.— WONDERS OF N AT UR E— containing a 

Description of tlie Peaces of Men, Manners and Customs 
of various Nations, Beaste, Birds, Trees, Plants, Mount- 
ains, Volcanoes, Rivers, &c., &c. 
PART II.— WONDERS OF ART— or Descriptions 
of Mechanical Inventions, Automatons, Cities, Buildings, 
Curiosities, Ruins, Antiquities, &c., &c. 

EDITED BY ROBERT SEARS. 

With 400 Illustrative Embellishments. 

The vphole complete in one volume of 550 pages, in em- 
blematic gUt binding ; making an interesting and instruc- 
tive work for all classes of readers. Price $3,50. 

X. 

Sears' New and Popular Pictorial 
DESCRIPTION OF THE UNITED STATES, 

Containing an Account of the Topography, Settlement, 
History, Revolutionary and other Interesting Events, 
Statistics, Progi-ess in Agriculture, Manufactures, and 
Population, &c., of EACH STATE IN THE UNION. 
Illustrated with Engravings 
of the principal Cities, Places, Buildings, Scenery, Curios- 
ities, Seals of the States, &c., &c. 
Complete in one 8vo. volume, of 550 pp., elegantly bound 
in gilt pictorial muslia. Price Two Dollars and a Half. 

XL ' 

A New and Improved Volume for 1848 ! 
FAMILY MAGAZINE, 

Established for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge: 
A Monthly Miscellany of moral and instiiictive informa- 
tion, embelUshed with numerous ENGRAVINGS of the 
various subjects treated of in the course of the year. Pub- 
lished monthly, in parts of 48 large octavo pages each. 

|^° Price Two Dollars per annum — three copies for 
five dollars, or ten copies for fifteen dollars — invariably in 
advance, as no Numbers are sent out imtil paid for. 



CIRCULAR FOR FAMILIES. 
^" An Elegant GIFT for a Father to present to Ms Family. 

Price only SIX DOIs£.A£IS— Well and substantially Bound! 

SJ- A LIBERAL DISCOUNT TO AGENTS WHO BUY TO SELL AGAIN. '9 

CHRISTIAN READER ! HAVE YOU A FAMILY BIBLE 1 C, ' 
Secure without delay this precious Gift for your Wife and Children. ' 



THE 

PICTORIAL FAMILY BIBLE, 

BEING 

Kt)t #lir atiir ^m ^t^tnmtnu, 

ACCORDING TO THE AUTHORIZED VERSION : 

WITH FULL MARGINAL REFERENCES: 

TABLES OF THE WEIGHTS AND MEASURES OF THE SCRIPTURES: 

A FULL CHRONOLOGY, FROM THE LATIN OF CALOVIUS; 
A STEEL. ENGRAVED FAMILT RECOHJD, 

FOR BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS; 

A SUPERB AND AUTHENTIC COLORED 

ILLUSTRATED BY 

ONE THOUSAND ENGRAVINGS, 

REPRESENTING 

PLACES, BIRDS, PLANTS, COINS, 

COSTUMES, BEASTS. MINERALS, MEDALS, 

ANTiaUITIES, REPTILES, INSECTS, TREES, 

AND HISTORICAL EVENTS, 

FKOM THE MOST ATXTHENTIC SOTTRCES. 

EACH CHAPTER COMMENCES WITH AN ILLUMINATED LETTER. 

The whole printed upon superior superfine paper, and substantially and elegantly boui '^ 
in one quarto volume of 1,500 pages. 

DCr" The Test together with the Marginal References is printed from the standard edi- 
tion of the American Bible Society. 

DC?" A COPY of the above BIBLE is given, gratis, to every person who shall obtain 
TEN SUBSCRIBERS to the Magazine, and remit FIFTEEN DOLLARS, free of 
postage. >H'p^^y'p^^7y 



i 



